Keeper
by jessara40k
Summary: When the ShinRa board of directors decide Sephiroth is becoming too uncontrolable they choose failed SOLDIER candidate Cloud for a new project of Hojo's to keep him under control and give them a backup weapon. CloudxSephiroth Issues of consent in part 2
1. Chapter 1

"So, they're really going to do it?" Sephiroth shivered at the almost casual way Zack spoke of his fate and leaned into the comfort of the warm embrace Angeal offered.

"Yes. I'm informed they found a suitable candidate from among the cadets failed at the interview stage in the last set of exams, apparently he did so well they thought the interview was a formality, but..."

"And it was mostly that bastard Gregori's cadets in the last round of exams, so his victim wouldn't know he could try again." Angeal sounded angry, this was an old feud they had with Gregori, and Raven, Sephiroth's other old teacher sided with him and with Angeal. "Look on the bright side Seph, you could get lucky, since I think that protégé of Zack's you've got a crush on's the only one who qualifies."

"And even if it isn't Cloud you might be able to finally find an excuse to have that bastard slapped down _hard_." Zack had a teasing grin on his face, and from the heat in his own Sephiroth _knew_ he was blushing.

"I don't have a crush on him." He _didn't_, even if his friends would never believe that. He was just impressed by Cloud's strength of character, but he didn't have a crush on him. Sephiroth kept an eye on the cadet classes when he had the chance, and he knew how 'pretty' cadets like Cloud were treated in the classes run under Gregori's authority. Cloud was the first of the cadets who didn't fit Gregori's twisted version of 'masculinity' to even get to the exams; _Sephiroth_ had been so badly affected by Gregori's attitude when he was learning from the SOLDIER that he _still_ couldn't shoot straight. That had been the only area of his training that Gregori had been in sole charge of, since Angeal, Raven and Hayden had all been only just adequate with guns, and at least one of them had been good enough to help train him in each of the other areas. Guns had been considered pretty unimportant for him to learn, so he'd spent far less time training with them than with anything else, but he was sure that a teacher who _didn't_ constantly denigrate him would have helped him learn to at least aim well enough to hit a man at ten paces.

"Yeah, right." Zack obviously didn't believe Sephiroth, but he hadn't expected him to. "You make sure you learn everything you can about him, you watch him whenever you've got an excuse, and you won't even talk to him for anything but business if you can at all help it. And you're even blushing _now_."

"Zack has a point, if that doesn't add up to a crush I don't know what does." Angeal found it funny as well, although the way his arms tightened just a bit around Sephiroth's body warned him against moving as he protested.

"Then you don't know what a crush is. I'm pretty sure people only get crushes on people with authority over them. Like how _we_ started out." Sephiroth had been fourteen at the time, and he'd been the one to initiate things, even though Angeal was still teaching him at the time and had been his mentor during the first year he was deployed to Wutai. "You really think this might give us a chance to stop Gregori ruining so many cadets?" It came out to about one cadet in fifteen dropping out because Gregori thought they weren't masculine enough, at least when you read between the lines; Gregori had more than three times the normal drop out rate and he had a _lower_ proportion of cadets getting through the exams than Angeal and Raven did.

"If you play it right, sure." Zack sounded pretty confident, and Sephiroth was determined not to disappoint him, he'd think of some way to use his 'keeper' against Gregori. He just hoped he didn't manage to alienate his keeper by doing so, since he'd be dependent on his good will in a lot of ways for as long as he was alive. The board couldn't have thought of a better way to punish him for taking so much initiative if they'd tried. Considering _how_ he was supposed to be bonded to his keeper...Sephiroth wriggled just a bit in Angeal's arms, glancing over at Zack from under his lashes.

"Well, in case he turns out to be possessive do you two want to have some fun while we can?"

Zack and Angeal both laughed at that, but Angeal had his hand down Sephiroth's pants, and Zack was kissing him by the time they'd finished laughing, so Sephiroth could just relax and let them do all the work. He _preferred_ having Angeal in his mouth and Zack up his ass, it was more comfortable that way, but he'd do whatever his lovers wanted.

xoXox

"Sir?" Cloud had been ordered to wait in this room until Professor Hojo was ready, but he hadn't expected the General to be here already - or at all. Perhaps this was a final test to see if he qualified for this experiment? But Sephiroth's first words told him that this wasn't a test, even if it didn't make sense for the _General_ to be briefing him on this.

"Private Strife. How much did the Professor tell you about his plans?"

"I...didn't meet Professor Hojo, sir. One of the Turks came and offered me this chance to join SOLDIER even though I failed on the interview in the exam." He knew the bitterness he felt about that was obvious in his voice, but as soon as he'd learned SOLDIER 1st class Gregori was the one interviewing him he'd known he wasn't going to make it. Sephiroth frowned though, and Cloud wanted to flinch at the evidence he'd annoyed the General.

"Exactly _what_ happened in your interview? According to the records it was just supposed to be a formality with you...and Gregori would have been informed of that beforehand. There's even a note in your file from _Hojo_ to that effect." Cloud didn't understand. Why would his interview _ever_ have been just a formality? He wasn't that good, _that_ had been made painfully clear to him, even the fact that Zack had had to rescue him so many times told him that.

"Major Gregori only asked me two questions, first he asked me why I wanted to be a SOLDIER, then he asked me what I thought of you, sir." Sephiroth went very still then, before a thin cruel smile spread across his face.

"_Really_, and what did you tell him then?"

"I wanted to be a SOLDIER to be among the best fighters on the Planet, and because I wanted to be even half as capable as you are. And I told him that I thought you were powerful and a brilliant leader, but far too isolated for it to be good for you." Cloud wasn't sure how much had been recorded from his interview, so he wasn't going to risk lying, even if the truth made him sound like a school kid with a crush.

"I see. While those are acceptable questions to _start_ the interview with the second question is optional, and Gregori did not ask all the required questions. Also neither of your answers gave him reason for the report he brought back on you. Thank you. You have confirmed something we have suspected for years, but been unable to prove. Did he tell you that you are permitted to take the exam again if you fail, up to three times in total? Or that if you did try again you would be interviewed by Angeal or Raven?" Now _Cloud_ froze, the feeling of betrayal surfacing in his heart. He hadn't expected much of SOLDIER 1st class Gregori, since he was in overall charge of the training system that had belittled and denigrated him and allowed his 'classmates' to bully and abuse him without any effort at intervention, except to punish _him_ for being mistreated. But with Gregori's mania for rules and regulations he'd expected the SOLDIER to at least follow them in assessing him, even if he did use the harshest possible criteria.

"No. I didn't know any of that." Cloud finally managed to answer Sephiroth, shaking his head and feeling as if he'd been unforgivably naïve.

"I thought you might not, since Private Renson has already put in for the next exams, and he didn't even get to the interview stage. Of course the requirements to even reach the interview get harder with each attempt to retake the exam. I doubt Gregori mentioned that." Renson was one of the worst of Cloud's bullies, up until he'd been assigned to a different unit after the exam. "Gregori is a prejudiced idiot to be honest, he hates anyone who doesn't fit into his twisted version of what a man should be, to be specific anyone who doesn't chase after women or bully other people." There was something odd about the General's body language, he was looking down at the floor and playing with a bit of his hair, almost nervously, but _Sephiroth_ wouldn't be nervous. "Do you...find any men attractive, or is that just a false assumption he would have made based on your looks?"

That explained why he was nervous, he wouldn't be used to asking questions like that, and Zack had said he was very private, so no wonder if he thought this was a bit intrusive. Liking men, or even acting on a taste like that wasn't against the rules here, so he might as well answer honestly.

"There was a girl I liked back in Nibelheim, but I had a bit of a crush on Zack for a while," That had been because of the way Zack kept on rescuing him from the cadets who acted just like the bullies back home. "you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen, and I wish I could do something to make you less lonely."

"You are." Cloud couldn't see how, but even though (or rather because) he seemed uncomfortable about it, this had to be important if Sephiroth was telling him. "How much was explained about the procedure you 'volunteered' for?"

"Not much. They just explained it was a way for me to become a SOLDIER even though I failed the exam."

"That wasn't entirely accurate. Hojo thinks he has a way to replicate my abilities, or come close to doing so, although I think it can't be done more than once." And part of the reason he was so lonely _had_ to be because of how unique and powerful he was. "The overall alteration will take a total of five years, with the initial enhancements being performed over a period of one month. Hojo claims he needs me here for the first week, although I suspect he's using it as an excuse to run more tests. Your gear has already been moved into the bedroom through there," Sephiroth pointed to the door on the left as Cloud entered the room, "and there is a small gym there, equipped with gear for weight training rather than swordwork." and that was the door at the back of the room, so was the last door the bathroom, or Sephiroth's bedroom?

"And the bathroom sir?"

"We each have a bathroom and a small kitchen attached to our bedrooms, the bathroom past the kitchen. Food will be delivered for our meals of course, but the kitchens are equipped for making any snacks we wanted." He paused, looking almost uncertain, then when Cloud didn't immediately dash for the bathroom he seemed to brace himself. "You said you found me attractive?"

"Yes, very." Sephiroth didn't seem to be angry about that, in fact he put a hand on Cloud's jaw and leaned down to kiss him, but even though Cloud let his mouth fall open Sephiroth didn't take it, just opening his own mouth in return, acting almost hesitant. After a few seconds Cloud brought his own hand up to cup Sephiroth's cheek, and slid his tongue into the General's mouth, the way he'd heard other troopers talking about doing with their girls. Eventually Sephiroth pulled back, his pupils looking almost human in his arousal.

"Zack and Angeal believe I have a crush on you." As if that would ever happen. A crush was only a crush if there was no returned interest and Cloud had been half in love with Sephiroth ever since he'd met the man. "You seem to return my interest. What would you like to do about it?" He was leaving the decision up to _Cloud_? Why?

"I...this is my first time. Be gentle with me...show me what to do." Sephiroth blinked, seeming almost surprised.

"You want me to take you then?" Cloud thought that had been a given, but he nodded anyway, too overcome to say anything. "In that case we should move this to my bedroom."

The bedroom was as well furnished as he'd expect for the General; a double bed, with a small table beside it, a stand for Masamune, a wardrobe in one corner and a wooden trunk at the end of the bed. "Your bedroom is furnished identically. If you wanted to you could start undressing while I find some sort of lubrication." Cloud had a choice? He decided not to undress, but to wait and let Sephiroth undress him instead and sat on the bed to watch as the General knelt and raked through his trunk.

xoXox

Sephiroth couldn't use the massage oil he was used to using as lubrication since he knew it was a bad idea for bottoms to use the same thing to make it easier, as that could spread infections and even if he was immune Cloud wasn't. He'd never taken anyone before, Angeal always took him and Zack, and Zack always took him, but if that was what Cloud wanted he'd do his best to please him. He didn't dare do otherwise considering the power Cloud would soon have over him, but he'd want to please the blond anyway. Still, he promised himself he'd insist that the next time Cloud would be the one to take him, and he knew that Cloud would complete taking control of him by fucking him, even if he wasn't supposed to know that. That would work he thought as he found one of the Potions he kept in case Hojo proved overly enthusiastic in his testing; he wasn't entirely comfortable asking Zack or Angeal to cast Cures for him, but Cloud would be facing the same issues as he would, and there was no chance of him being sent out on an unexpected mission for the next month. Besides, he _had_ to avoid hurting Cloud.

He looked up to see Cloud sitting on his bed, still fully dressed and hesitated before standing and moving to place the Potion on the bedside table, then sitting beside him.

"Do you wish me to undress you then?" Then something occurred to him, generally Zack and Angeal made sure they undressed before him unless they were playing _real_ dominance games, and even though the idea of his lover feeling vulnerable was foreign to him..."Or would you rather I undressed first? Or perhaps you'd like to undress me yourself?"

"I...you undress...please. I'd...like to see you." Cloud blushed and ducked his head in embarrassment, but Sephiroth only smiled, glad to be able to start with something familiar. He pulled off his boots first, as he sat on the bed, since that couldn't be done temptingly, and then he stood, moving in front of Cloud and watching his reaction from lowered eyes as he stripped as seductively as he could manage. It seemed to arouse him at least, and he knelt in front of Cloud and took hold of his left foot, placing it in his lap to remove that boot and sock first, followed by the right boot and sock. But Cloud looked almost shocked at that, and he didn't take the opportunity to trail a foot up along Sephiroth's inside thigh the way Zack, or even Angeal would, so he looked directly up at the private as he spoke.

"Is this alright? You do not object to my undressing you now, do you?"

"N-no. Go on." Sephiroth sat back on his heels for a moment, trying to figure out how to do this, since he didn't think Cloud would appreciate his usual methods. He wanted Sephiroth to take charge, and Sephiroth was sure that what he usually did with Zack and Angeal would be too submissive for the blond's tastes, but the simplest option wasn't intimate enough for his tastes.

"Could you lie down on the bed fully, please?" Cloud looked just a little bit startled, but he climbed fully onto the bed, lying back in the middle as Sephiroth climbed onto it himself. He hesitated then moved to kneel over Cloud's legs so he could pull his sweater over his head, and then moved so he was crouching over Cloud instead, taking the top button of his shirt into his teeth and unfastening it, then beginning to move down his body unfastening each button the same way. Cloud didn't wear a vest under his shirt the way Zack and Angeal did, and he paused in surprise, until he remembered; Cloud was from Nibelheim, he'd be used to colder temperatures than here.

Sephiroth nuzzled for a moment against Cloud's groin while his pants were still closed, enjoying the feel of the young man swelling against his cheek and then began the process of unfastening the fly with teeth and tongue, which was a bit harder than unfastening the buttons of his shirt using the same tools. He hesitated, then decided to just use his hands to removed the pants and the shirt properly, instead of his teeth as Zack or Angeal would have demanded, then he briefly mouthed Cloud's growing erection through his briefs before removing them. It _seemed_ to be going well, _he_ was enjoying this, but he wouldn't take the next step he had in mind without checking that he'd avoided displeasing Cloud so far.

"Cloud?" He waited until Cloud raised his head before continuing. "Are you enjoying this so far?" He'd slipped little kisses and caresses in when he could as he undressed him, the way he would with Zack or Angeal unless he'd been _told_ not to, and he was idly running his fingers in circles on the inside of Cloud's nearer thigh.

"Y-yes."

"And...you'll _tell_ me if I hurt you or do something you don't enjoy?" That had been something Angeal had insisted on _his_ first time, so he was pretty sure it was important, important enough that he pulled back enough to give Cloud room to think.

"Yes. Please, just _do_ something!"

"If you would spread your legs then?" Sephiroth reached for two of the pillows at the head of the bed and set them beneath Cloud's hips before he moved to kneel between his open legs, setting the Potion he'd found beside his knee. He licked a swift line up Cloud's erection, then braced himself with a hand on his thigh as he began licking behind his balls, and then further back, until his tongue rested at the entrance to Cloud's body. Zack and Angeal both liked it when he did this, Zack more than Angeal, and Zack had returned the favour a few times so he knew how incredible it could feel, and when Angeal had him prepare Zack this was almost always how he started off. He circled Cloud's entrance for a few moments, then he slid the tip of his tongue inside, enjoying the taste in an odd way.

"N-no, don't!" Sephiroth pulled back and looked up at Cloud in puzzlement, he couldn't understand why Cloud looked almost horrified.

"What did I do to upset you?"

"You shouldn't be doing that sir. It's...degrading." That was one of the things he _liked_ about it, and the reason it sometimes bothered him when Zack returned the favour, but he wasn't going to say that.

"Please, don't call me sir, not in bed." He was having a hard enough time staying aroused as it was, only the thought that this was what his soon to be master required of him gave him any chance of doing so. "Use my name, and if you dislike this I can prepare you another way. If that is what you wish?"

"Please si-Sephiroth." He smiled at that, and leaned forward over Cloud's body for a kiss, encouraging a good habit, and brushing their groins together, hoping Cloud wouldn't realise he was only just half hard.

"I'll suck you then, while I prepare you. Feel free to grab onto my hair if you want to." Zack and Angeal would _never_ permit Sephiroth to do that when one of them was giving him a blow job, they usually tied or pinned his hands as a reminder, but Sephiroth enjoyed feeling someone's hands in his hair as he pleased them, he loved the implied loss of control and submission. He moved back between Cloud's legs and opened the Potion bottle, coating the smallest finger on his right hand in the Potion.

He slid the finger into Cloud at the same time as he took Cloud into his mouth; Sephiroth only realised then that Cloud was smaller than Zack or Angeal, and he had no idea what normal was. Oh, he knew for a fact that _Angeal_ was abnormally large, but he was about the same size as Zack, and he didn't know if he was larger than average or smaller, or what. But then, Cloud was still young, not even fifteen yet, he'd grow. He switched fingers coating the index finger with Potion before sliding it in to replace his littlest finger, searching for that one spot...there it was.

xoXox

At first all he felt as Sephiroth slid one finger then the other into him was pressure, at least in his ass, there was no pain, but there was no pleasure from having Sephiroth's finger inside him either. All the pleasure he was feeling came from the feel of Sephiroth's mouth, hot and wet around his dick, until Sephiroth moved his finger somehow and a white-hot flash of intense pleasure made him grab onto Sephiroth's hair. He recovered his senses in a few seconds and released his grip in horror, but Sephiroth's free hand came up to tug Cloud's hands back to his head, placing a bottle down beside them to do so. And it was only then that he realised...

"You're using a _Potion_ for lubrication?" He yanked at Sephiroth's hair without thinking, but the General just let him pull his head away from Cloud's groin, even smiling slightly after Cloud's cock had slid out of his mouth with a pop. Cloud lifted himself up, balanced awkwardly on his elbows to meet Sephiroth's eyes.

"Yes. I packed 15 when I was told to prepare to spend a week under Hojo's authority, I intended to share them with you and leave the ones we didn't use this week for the rest of the month you'll be here. I didn't think I could hide any more than that. I don't want to hurt you, and a Potion's the best way to avoid that, especially since this is your first time." He glanced down, then back up at Cloud's face, except he didn't look directly at him, glancing up through his eyelashes instead. "Might I continue what I was doing? If...I _was_ pleasing you?" Why was he acting so uncertain?

"Yes, and yes." Cloud let himself fall back to lie on the bed, no longer trying to lift his body up enough to see what Sephiroth was doing. But when he felt a second finger slip into him Cloud reached down and grabbed the General's hair again, bucking his hips up into his mouth without thinking, only to hear - and feel - Sephiroth _laugh_ around his cock. Those fingers moved inside him, stretching him carefully, and avoiding _that_ spot, the one that had felt so good before. "Please...what you...did before...felt so...good."

Sephiroth _twisted_ his fingers, and at the same time took Cloud's cock fully into his mouth, swallowing around it, as he pressed into that spot once, twice, and he came, hands twisting in the General's hair, crying out with the pleasure. As he recovered he realised that Sephiroth had slid a third finger in right after he'd come, and he was beginning to feel a hint of discomfort, even with the Potion, not pain, not yet, but he wasn't distracted by arousal anymore. And Sephiroth still had his cock in his mouth, his hands were still clenched in the General's hair.

"Stop." He opened his hands, letting that beautiful fine silver hair slide from his fingers and Sephiroth froze for a moment, before lifting his head, fingers still inside him.

"Is something wrong? Am I hurting you? Did I...displease you? Or...is this enough? Do you want to stop altogether now? Or...didn't you want to come so soon?" Sephiroth sounded...almost anxious? No, Cloud had to be imagining things, and he lifted himself on his elbows to reply, hoping to meet Sephiroth's eyes, but only seeing his bowed head.

"I...you haven't gotten anything out of this...but...I came too soon, and..."

"I'm sorry," Why was _Sephiroth_ apologising? "I wanted to taste you, and pressing that spot, the prostate, usually makes any man come pretty quickly, especially if he's deep-throated at the same time. But...you're young enough that the refractory period's pretty short. I...by the time you're stretched enough you'll be hard again, and it'll take you a bit longer to come this time." Sephiroth bent to lick his cock and began playing with his balls as he continued. "Might I...go back to what I was doing, please? I...like the way you taste, and I like feeling a man get hard in my mouth." Why was he asking permission?

"Yes..._please_!" But it was oddly arousing, and so was the way Sephiroth was playing with his balls, distracting Cloud from the three fingers still inside him. Sephiroth went back to sucking his cock with enthusiasm, and Cloud lay back, reaching down to stroke Sephiroth's hair in apology for the way he'd yanked at it before. But soon enough he wanted to start yanking at it again, and..."More...please...now."

Sephiroth stopped what he was doing then and came to crouch over Cloud, brushing a light kiss over his lips before speaking.

"How would you like to do this? It will hurt less if you roll over onto your hands and knees, but I think face to face is more intimate." No contest then.

"Face to face."

"Thank you." Sephiroth kissed him again, deeper this time. "Wrap your legs around my waist then." Cloud felt Sephiroth pushing slowly into him once he'd obeyed, and he gasped at the sensation. Sephiroth stopped moving once he was fully inside Cloud, and he stayed there until...

"Move please, I can't..." Cloud didn't know what to say, it was so _intense_, and it got even better when Sephiroth began to move, slowly at first, but getting faster, and he was totally attentive to Cloud's responses. The pleasure built and built, and Cloud cried out when he came, then he felt Sephiroth's hot seed fill him as he came too. Then, while he was still dazed with pleasure Sephiroth pulled out of him and rolled over so that Cloud rested on his chest.

"Did I...please you?" At that Cloud finally recognised Sephiroth's clear insecurity, even if he couldn't understand _why_ the General would feel that way.

"You were wonderful Sephiroth." He hesitated, then he leaned down to kiss Sephiroth. "Even if this is the only time you want to be with me I'm grateful for having such a perfect first time."

Sephiroth _blushed_ as he replied. "It won't be the only time, not unless...you want it to be. And...in a way, this was my first time too. I've never...taken anyone before. I...prefer to let someone else take charge during sex. Next time, might I ask you to take me?" Cloud was overwhelmed by the realisation of what it had to have cost Sephiroth to give him what he'd asked for.

"Yes, of course. I'll try to make it as good for you as you did for me."

"Thank you Cloud. Tomorrow, after Hojo's finished with us then?"

"Yes, but...can I stay with you for a bit now?"

"If you wish." And then Sephiroth shut his eyes in perfect trust and submission.

xoXox

Sephiroth couldn't quite believe how easy his morning had been under Hojo's supervision, yes there'd been surgical procedures, but he'd been given more in the way of anaesthesia than he was used to, and after he'd been _given_ a Hi-Potion by Hojo it had just been indoctrination. He'd been given drugs IV and hooked up to a neurofeedback machine for an hour and a half, and apparently the afternoon would be more of the same, since one of the technicians had told him it could only be used for that long continuously, and there had to be an hour long break between sessions. He didn't _think_ there was any difference in how he thought yet, but he wasn't entirely sure he'd notice if there was any change, Zack and Angeal might notice differences in his behaviour, but that was the most he could hope for.

He had two indoctrination sessions this afternoon, and one in the evening, but he wouldn't have to undress for those, so it should be safe enough to make some preparations for being with Cloud - assuming _he'd_ be in good enough condition to take Sephiroth of course. Still, just to make sure, he set the computer up to run a search on how the neurofeedback machines worked while he ate the lunch that had been delivered for him.

Good, it was dangerous to interrupt someone under neurofeedback conditioning - for _both_ people - and an hour of relaxation was recommended between sessions. He couldn't be certain he'd get that, but he thought it was worth taking the risk of being found out, since Cloud wouldn't know how to prepare him yet, and he wasn't even sure Cloud would have the energy, but at least they would have privacy. They'd given up on bugging any room he was expected to spend a prolonged period of time in when he was eleven, after the noise had given him such a headache that he'd started throwing up as soon as he'd eaten breakfast, and _kept_ on throwing up for most of the day.

He pulled out the set of three butt plugs with reservoirs inside for oil and filled the smallest with the 'massage oil' he used before taking a quick shower and beginning to stretch himself. Angeal had given them to him shortly after he'd commented that sometimes he wished he could sleep with his lover inside him, but he'd known that it would be too uncomfortable, for both of them. And beside that, at the time it would have been far too dangerous for Angeal to seem to flaunt his relationship with Sephiroth, or even acknowledge it in any way. By the time Zack had joined them it had been fairly safe for Sephiroth to allow people to know he was in a relationship with Angeal and with Zack, and since Zack was smaller than Angeal he'd asked to try sleeping with Zack inside him, but it had been a disaster. Perhaps it would work better with Cloud...if he dared to ask.

He didn't have time to keep thinking about that though, and he slid the butt plug in, glad that since it was so small he only needed to get two fingers in to be stretched enough for it, then he dressed quickly. At least when he reported for another neurofeedback session he didn't have to deal with Hojo, he'd been half surprised the man had dealt with him personally for his surgery this morning, except he was pretty sure this first week was meant to make Cloud equal to a SOLDIER 3rd class and build the mental conditioning into both of them.

It generally took a week for the full enhancements to raise a man to a SOLDIER 3rd class, or a SOLDIER by a class, to be administered, and then another three weeks for him to get used to them. Sephiroth reflected on what he knew of Hojo's plans to enhance Cloud as he prepared the second and third butt plugs, since he had reason to believe he'd be eating with Cloud before his final neurofeedback session of the day. Zack and Angeal had both told him that when they were made SOLDIERs they'd only needed to spend half the day letting the scientists work on them, but Cloud was scheduled for a full day in the labs every day this week. Cloud was scheduled to spend a month in the labs every six months, regardless of how well he did, since six months was considered the minimum safe time between administering Mako enhancements. Presumably the other three weeks were for him to get used to his enhancements, and possibly for accelerated training to help him begin to match Sephiroth in skill as well as physically.

He stretched himself a bit more and slid the second plug inside him, placing the first in a bowl of water and casting a small Fire to turn the water to steam, covering the bowl with a plate to partially contain the steam as he cast the spell. Then he left and reported for another neurofeedback session, just grateful that Hojo had decided on such a painless way to start the conditioning.

At least it didn't look as if Cloud had been hurt, was Sephiroth's first thought when Cloud returned to their quarters, along with dinner, after he'd changed his butt plug and cleaned the one he'd been wearing, although Cloud _was_ moving a bit awkwardly, as if he was in pain. But if he'd just got his first Mako injection...Sephiroth turned and went into his bedroom, pulling out a bottle of the opiate pills that were the only painkiller that worked on him and a Potion.

"Cloud, did you get a Mako injection today?" Sephiroth had the feeling he was noticing Cloud's appearance more now than he had been before, and he thought he could see some changes already, presumably from today's injection.

"I don't know, I got lots of injections, one before they put me into that machine where they put earphones and that weird helmet on your head," Cloud had been having sessions in the neurofeedback machine as well then, "and all sorts of other injections. One was the colour of your eyes."

"Yes, that was the Mako injection. I'm sorry, but the Potion won't work right for you then. The best I can offer you is a painkiller. Here." He tipped a pill from the bottle and handed it to Cloud across the table. "I'm sorry, these are the only painkillers I have, because nothing else works on me. They're opiates, so you'll almost certainly be sleepy after you take them, and you might not be able to stay awake, and since they're so strong you shouldn't take more than a quarter of the pill." He usually took two pills, and when Zack or Angeal used those pills they only took one. "You should decide if it's worth taking it, but I have a session with the neurofeedback machine for an hour and a half after we eat, so if you want to take me after that just wait for me in this room."

"It isn't that bad. I don't need this." Cloud pushed the pill back across the table at him as he began to eat, and Sephiroth was struck by admiration, and the memory of something Zack had said the first time Sephiroth had given him one of those painkillers.

"_Man, I wish we'd been given _any _painkillers after that first Mako injection, and I'd have killed for something as effective as this, you know how much those things hurt don't you Sephiroth?"_

"Keep it. If you don't use it tonight you can use it later, and come to me when you want some more. I think that by the end of the week taking a quarter of the tablet won't do more than make you sleepy, if that, taking a full pill doesn't make Zack or Angeal sleepy." And they were his only frame of reference to measure Cloud against.

"Thank you." Sephiroth smiled at Cloud and changed the subject then.

xoXox


	2. Chapter 2

Cloud decided not to bother with the painkillers, yes he was still hurting from the Mako injection, and from some of the other things the scientists had done to him, but he'd been hurt more in the past, and he rarely got this sort of painkiller then. Instead he settled for taking 4 aspirins, figuring that the Mako injection he'd had today would be enough to keep him from overdosing when he took just one extra pill. He put the pill Sephiroth had given him into the almost empty bottle; they looked different enough that he didn't think there was any chance of him getting them confused anyway. He did want to be with Sephiroth again tonight, even if he wasn't quite comfortable with the idea of taking the General, so he spent an hour working on his swordplay, and marvelling at how much easier it was after just one injection, before returning to the entrance room.

"If you would prefer we could spar first, then go to my rooms, since there's no cameras in those rooms." The General's voice was perfectly neutral, Cloud had no idea what he wanted to do, except...

"I'm not good enough to spar with you." Cloud thought he saw an odd hint of something like relief when he stood up and began walking towards Sephiroth's bedroom. "I don't want to disappoint you." In bed, or in anything else.

"As the more experienced swordsman it would be my duty in a spar to restrict myself to a level just above yours, and you won't disappoint me in bed if you're worried about that." Sephiroth smiled faintly at Cloud as they entered his bedroom and glanced over at the other door. "Would you like to shower together first?" That would be good. Cloud had seen Sephiroth naked the last time, and he knew that Sephiroth had seen _him_ naked, but he was still a bit embarrassed about his body, and he knew he had to stink from the training he'd been told to do between injections and sessions with that machine.

"Yes, please." Then he thought of something else. "Should I...undress you?"

"Here you mean? If you want, it would be more convenient after all. And I can return the favour after you've finished with me." Sephiroth was smiling lightly, and Cloud couldn't think of a way to refuse even though he wanted to. But Sephiroth seemed to notice his discomfort and knelt in front of his trunk, pulling out a robe. "You can wear this on the way to the bathroom if you want."

"Thank you." Cloud took the robe from him and put it on a chair then stepped up to kiss Sephiroth, slowly. He didn't realise that Sephiroth was standing against the edge of the bed until he pressed forward a little too hard, unbalancing them both and they fell onto the bed. "I...I'm sorry sir!" Cloud tried to roll off Sephiroth in horror, the General had said he found Cloud attractive, wanted to have sex with him, and now Cloud screwed up like this. But Sephiroth grabbed hold of his shoulders, and wriggled beneath him, kissing him again before speaking.

"Don't apologise. And please, _don't_ call me 'sir'. I told you, I'm sub, that means you tell me what you want, and I'll do it." Cloud didn't quite believe that, but if that was what the General wanted...

"Just stay where you are and let me undress you then." Sephiroth nodded and let go of him, so he could get off the bed. The boots first, and he knelt to pull them off, followed by the socks, then he pulled Sephiroth up to _sit_ on the bed, kissing him as he did. He hesitated before doing anything else, but Sephiroth gave him an encouraging smile, so he pushed the long coat Sephiroth was wearing off his shoulders, lightly kissing the base of Sephiroth's throat as he did. He'd seen Sephiroth take the harness he wore across his chest off, but he didn't know how to do it himself, so he fumbled about looking for the fastening, feeling his face heating up in embarrassment as he did.

"Please..." Cloud felt Sephiroth's cool hand lie gently against his cheek as he spoke. "don't be embarrassed, I know you're new at this and as long as you take control at some point I'll be happy." At some point because Cloud wasn't doing very well at taking control at the moment. He nodded and once he wasn't focusing on how much he was screwing up he managed to unfasten the harness easily. Belt, no _belts_, and why would anyone wear two of them, next, then finally...

"Stand up." He wanted to finish that sentence with 'sir', or even just 'please', but Sephiroth had asked Cloud to take control, and there was this faintly relieved look on his face as he obeyed, before he bowed his head so that his hair fell forward to hide his face. Cloud paused, then licked at one of Sephiroth's hard nipples, before trying to suck it as his hands explored the General's body above the waist, tracing the lines of his muscles. Cloud felt Sephiroth's hair brush his cheek as he tossed his head back and moaned in pleasure, making him think of something and he pulled back.

"We'll just get dirty again if we shower before we have sex, so...I think I should take you now."

"If that's what you want." Sephiroth's voice was low, and arousal was clear in it, so Cloud kissed him again before beginning to unfasten his pants. He cupped Sephiroth's ass, and slid a hand down between his buttocks, looking for his entrance, and paused when he felt something round and metallic blocking his fingers.

"What's this?" He took hold of the object and wriggled it a bit, getting a quiet moan from Sephiroth in response.

"Butt plug. So...you wouldn't have...to stretch me." Cloud didn't even try to hide how much that hurt.

"Did you think I'd refuse or something?" Somehow he found he'd wrapped Sephiroth's hair in the hand not playing with the butt plug and yanked on it, and he pulled the plug partway out before pushing it back in as he spoke.

"No..." But he wouldn't meet Cloud's eyes for some reason, and he wet his lips looking almost nervous. "But...you're new to this, and I wanted to make it easy for you. If you wanted, we could do this again after we shower, and you can try stretching me then. I...compared to Angeal you're small, so I don't need as much preparation as you do." He looked as if he thought he'd insulted Cloud, but he _knew_ how well hung Angeal was; even when the SOLDIER was dressed it was obvious.

"Then there's no problem me taking you face to face, is there?"

"No, there isn't." Sephiroth looked directly into Cloud's eyes, a smile on his face as he replied.

"Lie down then." Cloud really wasn't comfortable undressing in front of the General, but...he'd liked Cloud's body last night, and he'd let Cloud undress him first, so with that in mind he stripped, quickly and efficiently. "Is there anything I need to do?"

"Just use that oil, on the table there, to cover your cock, pull the butt plug out and take me, if that's what you want to do." Sephiroth had already arranged himself the way Cloud had been arrange last time, with pillows under his hips to raise his ass to a more accessible position and Cloud came to kneel between his open legs, the bottle of oil in one hand. He pulled the plug out first, then he managed to position himself right at the entrance to Sephiroth's body and poured the oil over his cock and pushed in. It was incredible, hot and tight, even with the stretching done by the butt plug, and Cloud just stayed still for a moment, savouring the feeling, and trying to keep from being overwhelmed by it. He wanted to last long enough to please Sephiroth after all.

"Cloud...please...move." He was startled into motion by Sephiroth's quiet plea, pulling out until only the head of his penis was inside him, and then thrusting in until he was fully sheathed inside Sephiroth. It didn't take long for him to come, but...Sephiroth was still hard.

xoXox

Sephiroth felt Cloud's seed fill him, and he knew that his lover would feel guilty that he hadn't climaxed as well, or better, first. It didn't matter that much, it was easy enough to get a man off, but he didn't think Cloud would see it that way.

"I...I'm sorry sir." Cloud began trying to pull out, but Sephiroth grabbed hold of his shoulders.

"Don't, please, just stay inside me, and touch me. You'll get hard again soon enough. I should have made sure you came once first, so you wouldn't be so hair-triggered and so you'd last longer." He smiled, hoping that Cloud would understand. "Besides, it feels a lot better when you come first and do something else for me than if I came a long time before you did and you just kept on going until it hurt me." Zack had done that once, without realising what he was doing, he'd felt very guilty afterwards, so much that he spent the next time they were together devoted almost entirely to Sephiroth's pleasure. Once he'd finished speaking Sephiroth let go of Cloud, waiting for him to make his decision.

"Are you sure sir?" Cloud's hand slid between their bodies to grasp Sephiroth's cock as he spoke. "You seem to be losing interest."

"You're calling me sir. That's a big turn-off for me." He shut his eyes and turned his head away, resigning himself to whatever Cloud decided. Cloud left one hand wrapped around his dick, and used the other hand to turn Sephiroth's face towards him, gripping his chin firmly, but not painfully.

"Look at me." Cloud didn't say anything else until Sephiroth had obeyed, and Sephiroth was sure he'd noticed his renewed arousal at the command, even if he might have attributed it to something else. "Tell me exactly what you enjoy." He wouldn't tell Cloud everything, he didn't want to frighten him off, but he'd say enough to satisfy him.

"Commands. Tell me what to do, don't ask. And... if you could...be a little rough."

"How rough? This rough?" And he let go of Sephiroth's face to twist a nipple, _hard_. "Or a bit rougher?"

"Anything you want." He could easily cast a Cure if Cloud got overenthusiastic, Cloud wouldn't be able to drain him the way Hojo did, not in just one night.

Cloud raked his nails down Sephiroth's side and he shut his eyes again, shivering and moaning in pleasure. Cloud bit his lower lip then, drawing blood, and squeezed a bit harder than he had been on Sephiroth's cock, digging his short nails in slightly.

"Keep your eyes open and look at me."

"Y-yes Cloud." Sephiroth deliberately tightened on Cloud's hardening cock inside him, licking the blood from his lip, slowly. Angeal and Zack were always _so_ careful not to draw his blood, they'd all seen how badly normal humans reacted to a SOLDIER's blood, and seed, and they knew how much more powerful he was than they were but Cloud didn't seem to care about the risk. That or he didn't know about it, but since he was intended to become Sephiroth's equal, and they were close to the best assistance possible...

He was distracted from his thoughts when Cloud managed to hit his prostate for the first time, and he cried out, arching his back in pleasure, but _not_ closing his eyes, not when Cloud had forbidden it.

"Please! Do that again."

"You mean this?" And Cloud thrust again, only this time as he pushed in he twisted and managed to _bite_ Sephiroth's left nipple, the one that had taken less abuse to that point and Sephiroth climaxed. It only took three more thrusts for Cloud to climax as well and then he slowly pulled out of him. "Was that alright...Sephiroth?" He ran an anxious hand down Sephiroth's unmarked side, and Sephiroth shut his eyes to purr for a moment.

"More than alright, you did wonderfully." He reached up and caught Cloud's other hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it lightly. "If it pleases you I would love to do this again, whenever we have time."

"But _next_ time you're going to show me how to prepare you, aren't you?"

"If that is what you wish." Sephiroth had hoped he'd be able to make sure he was already prepared when the time came for Cloud to cement his bond to him, but teaching Cloud how to prepare him couldn't go amiss. Could it? "Do you still want to enjoy me after we shower?"

"No..." He trailed off, looking at Sephiroth a little speculatively. "But we could shower together then go to my bedroom for you to teach me a bit about giving a blow job." Sephiroth wondered if Cloud remembered about the cameras, although what he was suggesting would fit in with people's assumptions pretty well.

"Should I bring the oil in case you change your mind then? Or if we have time and you decide to take me in the morning." He was presuming, he _knew_ that, but he liked sleeping in the same bed as his lovers, it gave him a comfort he wasn't really used to, but that he craved.

"You said there were cameras in my rooms. You wouldn't mind me fucking you with an audience?"

"No one will be surprised if I hunt down and destroy the cameras in your room if I'm staying there overnight. They give me a headache, have since I was eleven." And besides the only thing it would really reveal was that he'd found out about how Cloud was supposed to bond him at the end of the week.

"You...wanted to sleep with me, really sleep with me, not just have sex?" Cloud looked even happier than he had when he found out Sephiroth desired him, that was a good thing, wasn't it? Even if he did feel almost as if he was manipulating him.

"Yes, if you don't mind. And it isn't just because my sheets are dirty - they were dirty last night too, but I slept here then."

"Are you saying you didn't want to push me?"

"Pretty much. I told you that I'm sub. But since you suggested moving to your bedroom I hoped..."

"It sounds pretty good actually." Cloud stood and offered Sephiroth a hand to get up, a hand he smiled and accepted, especially since their conversation seemed to have gotten him past his nerves about being naked.

xoXox

Cloud wished it wasn't the last day of the week that Sephiroth would be sharing quarters with him; he'd loved getting to know the General better and he'd especially loved how Sephiroth was so willing, almost determined, to help him improve his fighting skills. What they did in bed was fun, and he'd got more comfortable with being in charge the way Sephiroth liked over the course of the week, but that came second to knowing that the General cared about _him_, enough to share his painkillers with him and spend his time teaching Cloud how to fight better.

It bothered him a bit that Sephiroth had been getting more and more submissive over the course of the week, but Cloud just figured it was Sephiroth getting more comfortable with him. That didn't explain why he'd also been getting a bit anxious as the week went on, almost as if he was anticipating something that never quite happened, and Cloud had a feeling Sephiroth was hiding something from him. And he kept on half hearing Sephiroth's voice in his head, or feeling strange emotions and being _convinced_ that they were Sephiroth's, crazy as that sounded.

He knew it was only his imagination, not only was it impossible to hear someone else's thoughts and feelings, but the General would never think or feel the sort of things he'd been sensing. He couldn't be feeling a constant low level fear of Cloud, or that weird sense of almost worship, Sephiroth couldn't be making almost constant calculations of what would make Cloud happy or embarrass him, or believe he was a monster, whose only purpose was to be used by the _real_ people around him. Still, even if it was crazy he could help but mentally wrap himself around that scared little voice, that thin thread of fear and try to send comfort and reassurance to him, he'd do it for anyone, but _Sephiroth_ of all people shouldn't feel that way. And the pure adoration he always sensed after doing that was a nice high, even if it was still more evidence that he was going crazy because Sephiroth wouldn't be _that_ grateful for that little.

"One last procedure today." The lab tech smiled at Cloud, he was one of the nicer ones and Cloud was grateful he didn't have to face Hojo too often. "You've got another session with the neurofeedback machine, and then an injection before we can let you go."

"Yes sir." Cloud lay back and relaxed as the neurofeedback machine was fitted to him, letting himself drift, no longer consciously aware of what was happening, he always came out of these sessions feeling more confident in himself and in his abilities and Sephiroth seemed to approve of that. This time he came out of the neurofeedback session hungry for Sephiroth's delicious body, and he found himself _looking_ mentally for that thin thread of emotion that seemed to come from someone else.

When he found it everything he could sense was as heavily sexualised as he was at the moment, he ignored the thin thread of fear he could sense in favour of using that link to whisper what he wanted to do with Sephiroth directly into his head, telling his lover that he intended to stay with him _forever_. The injection that the nervous looking lab tech gave him just seemed to add fuel to the fire and once that was done he barely kept from throwing the man aside as he went hunting for his mate, somehow translating that thread of emotions into a direction.

Sephiroth was in his bedroom, almost fully dressed, lying limp on his bed and Cloud made straight for him, climbing on top of him, pinning him down and kissing him hungrily. Sephiroth did respond, but not much, and somehow that inflamed him further. He tore Sephiroth's pants off, leaving everything else as it was and forced his legs apart and up, without getting a hint of resistance, or encouragement from Sephiroth, sensing only rising arousal mixed with an intoxicating hint of fear through their link and hearing a wordless moan. He took Sephiroth's cock into his mouth for a moment, scraping his teeth against the skin ever so slightly, then positioned himself to take his mate.

"Please, the oil." And the arousal he could sense from Sephiroth was dimming to a quiet hum, while the fear grew to almost overpower the arousal. He grabbed the bottle of oil, pouring it over his cock and his hand before pushing two fingers into Sephiroth's ass, scissoring them briefly and pressing on that little spot until the arousal was high enough to drown in again and the fear had fallen to just enough to intoxicate. "Thank you." The gratitude tasted delicious and Cloud thrust forward, pushing into Sephiroth until he was balls deep inside him.

'_Mine, you are mine. You will always be mine and never forget it. Heart, body, mind, soul, all mine!'_ He forced the thoughts into Sephiroth's head, ruthlessly overriding his pain with Cloud's own pleasure.

"Yours, I'm yours!" Sephiroth moaned his almost desperate response, and that was enough to make Cloud come, biting into his neck as he did, then pulling out swiftly enough that some of his seed splattered onto Sephiroth's stomach and he felt a fresh flare of pain through their link, the link that was becoming stronger now.

"Good." Cloud crawled up and sat on Sephiroth's chest, reaching forward to grip his hair and lift his head then fed his half hard cock into his mouth. "Suck me." Once Sephiroth was obeying and Cloud was fairly certain he'd _keep_ obeying he released his hair and leaned back, supporting himself with one hand and roughly jerking Sephiroth off with the other. Again he pulled out just as he came, spattering seed onto Sephiroth's face and neck this time, while Sephiroth's own seed mingled with Cloud's on his stomach. He smeared his seed into the open bite, whispering possessive words into Sephiroth's mind, hearing a submissive acknowledgement of that possession back, but it still didn't seem enough to mark Sephiroth as his, and other than the quiet litany through their link of '_yours, yours, yours,'_ he had gone limp and unresponsive.

He pulled the rest of his mate's clothes off, laying him gently on the floor, and pissed on him, marking him again, but still leaving him unresponsive, and then he lifted him up, carrying him through to the other bedroom. Then he arranged Sephiroth on his side on the bed, making a nest of the blankets and joining him, pushing inside him once more and whispering a litany of desire and praise into Sephiroth's mind now that he was certain Sephiroth was, and always would be, his.

xoXox

Sephiroth gasped a little as he woke up, shifting unconsciously despite Cloud's arm and leg resting over his body. He hadn't really registered what had happened after Cloud rubbed his seed into that bite he'd given Sephiroth, but he could feel Cloud hard inside him, and even though he ached from that he _loved_ it; Cloud had to have been inside him all night, he was still asleep now. He deliberately tightened his muscles for a moment around Cloud, just enough to encourage him to move, and then relaxed as completely as he could, waiting to see how he responded. It hadn't worked, and he wriggled just a little bit, hoping _that_ would wake Cloud up enough to start moving. It would be a dry fuck, worse than a dry fuck with the dried come already inside him, but Sephiroth knew he could relax enough to cope with that, if he could take Angeal, even with lube he could take Cloud dry, and besides, he had the day off and he could use it to recover easily enough.

Cloud started to move inside him, nuzzling the back of Sephiroth's neck and making sleepy little noises as his arm tightened around Sephiroth's body, then he froze and from the stiffness of his body he had to be awake.

"Oh, fuck!"

"Yes, please. If you can reach, if this is my bed, not yours, I think there's a Potion on the table behind you." They'd both kept most of their gear packed away, and there wasn't a Potion on the table in front of him. Sephiroth could sense Cloud's feelings of guilt, but he wasn't sure what their source was, and he hoped that this would settle them for a bit. He could feel Cloud shifting behind him as he released Sephiroth, prompting a slight whine, and slid almost fully out of him, then he could feel the cool Potion being poured onto Cloud's cock between them. Sephiroth shut his eyes and moaned in pleasure as Cloud slid into him, spreading the Potion inside him and soothing the aches from the previous night, then Cloud reached around and began to stroke him as well, and he heard Cloud's voice in his mind claiming him.

'_Yes, I'm yours.'_ That seemed to be enough to bring Cloud to climax, and the pleasure he sent into Sephiroth's mind triggered the same for him. When Cloud pulled out this time Sephiroth didn't protest, he just let his...keeper roll him onto his back and climb on top of him.

"Sephiroth, I'm...sorry. I...I don't know what came over me last night, I just..."

"It isn't your fault. I know you wouldn't do that in your right mind. It's alright." Sephiroth wrapped his arms around Cloud and nuzzled him briefly.

"What do you mean it's alright? I _raped_ you last night, and then I _pissed_ on you!" Sephiroth _had_ been trying to avoid coming to that conclusion, despite the evidence of his senses.

"I...Cloud, we were both _drugged_, I could have done without that last bit, but I _am_ submissive, and right up until you rubbed your come into the bite you gave me I was having a really good time. I'd have consented to everything you did up to and including that even without the drugs; those and you pissing on me are the only two things I had any objections to. But...I...sort of blanked out when you did that with the bite...did you notice the change?" He couldn't do anything to change how much control Cloud had over him, and Cloud would find out, he'd probably be told this week, but he could at least try and teach him how to take care of him when he stopped registering things. Sephiroth didn't like using Cloud's obvious sense of guilt against him, but...

"You went all limp and unresponsive, but I didn't _care_ and I should have."

"And you would have if you hadn't been drugged. You _will_ if that happens again, I know you well enough to be certain of that. Would you like to know how...to care for me under those circumstances?"

"Yes!"

"It is very simple to describe, less simple to perform. You simply need to keep on touching me, gently, and speak to me in a quiet, comforting tone of voice. The exact words won't be important while I'm unresponsive, but when I start to regain awareness you need to make sure that what you say is comforting, I won't be able to handle criticism then." Sephiroth hesitated, but he _had_ reacted like this before, and he was probably not the best person to teach Cloud how to take care of him in that condition. "Zack and Angeal have both seen and dealt with me in that condition, you should ask them for more advice."

"I'll do that." Cloud seemed to have calmed down enough to begin thinking, and Sephiroth hoped that was a good sign. "You keep on saying we were both drugged and that what I did wasn't really my fault. Did you know this was going to happen beforehand?"

"I...the ShinRa board decided I was too uncontrollable, they selected you for this because they thought they could control you better." Cloud was getting impatient, Sephiroth could tell, and he changed what he was going to say. "Yes, I knew you'd take me once Hojo had finished conditioning me to obey you under any circumstances. I knew they planned to give you a drug to make sure you would take me, and to drug me so I couldn't resist, but I wanted you before I knew about their plans, or how our link would be completed." He was terrified that Cloud would think he'd seduced him to manipulate him or something, even though one of the reasons he'd dragged Cloud to his bed that first night was to make sure that he at least knew what to do. Cloud felt guilty enough as it was, if he'd been ignorant last night and really hurt Sephiroth...

"I think I can believe what you told me about last night not being rape now. Did you have to break up with Zack and Angeal because of this?" He didn't seem to be angry at least.

"Not exactly. They...as long as you aren't possessive they want to keep on with what they have with me."

"Your order of priorities is as follows then: your health come first;" Cloud must have heard some of the stories Zack told about him being overworked to make that a stipulation. "then your duties, everything you need to do as ShinRa's best general; I come next, the time I want to spend with you; Zack and Angeal can have you if it doesn't conflict with any of the other priorities I've set." He looked uncertain then. "I can do that can't I?"

"Give me orders and set priorities for my life from now on? Oh yes." And it was a turn on in a way he hadn't expected. "Thank you for being so generous. How do you want me to address you in private? We can't let most people know about this, part of the conditioning."

"What do you mean, how do I want you to address me?" Cloud looked shocked, and Sephiroth knew he hadn't thought about the implications of how they were bound, and it looked as if he wouldn't really like them. Sephiroth _loved_ the implications, he'd always felt there was something missing from him and his life, a sense of connection that he'd hungered for - and now he had it.

"In a very real sense you _own_ me now." Cloud looked horrified by that and Sephiroth hurried to reassure him. "It's alright, I _like_ that, at least since it's you, and I _know_ you wouldn't abuse the power you have over me. I just wondered, when we play that sort of game Zack and Angeal have me call them by some sort of title..."

"No. Just call me Cloud." He sighed then. "We should probably be getting up now, shouldn't we?"

"I have today off, and we've got time to shower together if you want."

"That sounds good."

xoXox

Cloud hadn't felt this uncertain since that first night with Sephiroth - the only time the General had _ever_ taken him he realised in hindsight. He hadn't had any problems dealing with Zack and Angeal when they were training him as he got used to his Mako enhancements; they'd been focused purely on training him, and as demanding as they were he'd felt a sense of impersonality to it, more from Angeal than from Zack. They hadn't had any chance to say anything about his interference in their relationship with Sephiroth, but now Zack had been assigned to take him to his new quarters, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd betrayed his mentor in a way.

"Hey, whatever you told Sephiroth that got him to stop overworking himself and skipping meals and sleep thanks." Cloud hadn't expected that, and he smiled at Zack in response.

"I just gave him a list of priorities, and his health was first. You and Angeal come after me though, and I come after his duty."

"That's about what we hoped for once we heard you'd been chosen to be Sephiroth's keeper really, and it's not like we don't have the option to find someone else." Was Zack implying that Cloud and Sephiroth didn't have that option? He had to admit, at least mentally that he wouldn't have been so understanding about Sephiroth's lovers if it hadn't been a threesome including Zack, and he certainly wasn't going to let him find any other lovers. "You do understand that you can't be given any position where you'll be working directly with Sephiroth yet?"

"Not until we've got used to our positions, and learned to keep from letting our personal lives spill over into our duties, I know."

"Yeah, speaking of personal lives Sephiroth mentioned that you needed someone to tutor you when it comes to aftercare?"

"You mean how to deal with it when he goes all limp and unresponsive?" Cloud kept his voice quiet, they were getting close to SOLDIER territory and he didn't want anyone to overhear them.

"Umm...not quite. Look, Sephiroth said he wanted to wait and see if there was anything you wanted tonight before he considered making arrangements with us, if you wanted you could meet us in Sephiroth's quarters around six and we could _show_ you what we mean by aftercare."

"Not tonight, I want to be with him alone tonight. Tomorrow or the day after if that's alright with you and Angeal?"

"I'll get back to you on that. As a SOLDIER 3rd class you get to share a bedroom with up to three other SOLDIERs 3rd class, and a bathroom for every two bedrooms. There's a room with just two occupants at the moment, and you'll be moving into that one." Zack raised his voice as he began to talk about practicalities, and Cloud noted that he'd have to go to Sephiroth's quarters every time, not that he really minded.

"Do you have any clue where I'm assigned if I'm not going to be working directly with the General?" Cloud accepted the change from personal business to professional business easily.

"No, you might even get a couple of days leave while that's decided, so keep up with your training until someone tells you where to report."

"I can do that." He'd love to show Sephiroth how much he'd improved under Zack and Angeal's tuition and more training always helped. "Any suggestions about sparring partners?" He already knew Gregori was out.

"I'd say you should look for opponents who're taller than you and broader across the shoulders. Mako can do about three different things to you; simply add muscle mass, increase height and add muscle mass, or alter the way your body's built, making the muscles and bones denser." Cloud nodded, he understood the implication that he was going to fit into the last category and he wondered which category Zack and Sephiroth fell into. "Here's your room anyway, and your keycard too," Zack handed the keycard to Cloud after using it to open the door for him, "and you've already got all your gear haven't you?"

"Yes." He'd been issued three new uniforms during his third week in the lab - when Hojo decided he'd adapted well enough to his enhancements - and he was carrying the trunk with all of his gear in, revelling in his new strength even if it was a bit awkward because of the shape of the trunk. The room was empty, but it was pretty clear which beds were already occupied and Cloud set his trunk at the end of one of the beds that didn't already have one before going to do some more training.

xoXox


	3. Chapter 3

Sephiroth wondered absently if Cloud had been given a keycard for his quarters as he nibbled on a carrot stick. His keeper had agreed to eat with him tonight, around six, so he'd ordered a buffet style meal for two set up here at quarter to, because he didn't think it would be a good idea for the servants to see them eating together. He was pretty sure Cloud would prefer to be discreet about their connection, and keep people from thinking his advancement was due to the fact that he was sleeping with Sephiroth. He didn't like it that they'd probably be limited to spending time as a couple only in his quarters, and any time they spent together outside his quarters would almost certainly have to be with Zack there as well, but he'd accept it; his relationship with Zack and Angeal had similar limitations so he was used to it. But Cloud wasn't, and he didn't have a bedroom to himself so they couldn't go there the way he could with Zack and Angeal.

From the knock on the door he suspected Cloud hadn't been given a keycard, but in case it wasn't him Sephiroth grabbed Masamune, fastening the sheath in position before he opened the door.

"Hello Sephiroth. I'm not late am I?" Cloud glanced at Sephiroth's sword meaningfully, and he dropped his eyes in submission, hoping that his automatic hand on the hilt wouldn't be seen as a threat.

"No, I just wasn't sure if it was you at the door. Please, come in." Sephiroth stepped back in unspoken invitation, wondering absently if his hunger for Cloud's touch was natural or something that had been built into him, and whether Cloud felt the same hunger for him. Cloud ran a casually possessive hand through his hair as he stepped passed Sephiroth, and then he froze. At least Sephiroth knew that Cloud _did_ want to touch him as much as he wanted to be touched, even if it looked as if he was angry or disgusted by what he'd just done, and he shut the door quickly.

"Shiva's Tits! I thought I had better self-control than that, touching you so openly while the door was open isn't exactly discreet is it?" If Cloud was angry he was angry at himself, and Sephiroth wasn't going to give him any reason to transfer that anger to him, not considering the way he'd been conditioned not to even defend himself from Cloud, even if the blond wanted to kill him.

"So, then we know that I shouldn't meet you at the door if we haven't seen each other for more than...say a week?" Hopefully a practical suggestion would calm Cloud down a little, and redirect his attention to ways to avoid indiscretions caused by their bond.

"If we haven't seen each other _privately_ for a week I'd say. Except I don't have a keycard for your quarters and people would wonder if you started to leave your door open. Did you see anyone in the hall when you opened the door? I don't _think_ there was anyone to see us, but..."

"Neither do I." It was something he'd wanted to say when Cloud had blamed himself for being indiscreet, but he hadn't been sure how to put it, and now that Cloud didn't seem to be angry he felt he could talk about that. "And I arranged a keycard to my quarters for you, in case Hojo hadn't done so already. Here it is." He'd left the keycard on the table with the meal and he smiled as he handed it to Cloud, enjoying the way Cloud's hand lingered on his own.

"Thanks. I...didn't expect..."

"It isn't as if I have anything to hide from you even if I _could_." Sephiroth wasn't sure why Cloud hadn't really used their link yet, but he knew _exactly_ how limited his own control of it was, and he had the feeling that _Cloud_ would be able to use it for some of the things he'd thought of but been unable to do. He placed Masamune back on its stand and pulled his coat off, watching Cloud as he sat down on the couch, then sat beside him and wrapped an arm around him. "You don't mind if I touch you while we're eating?"

"I missed touching you too." Cloud stroked his arm gently before deciding to leave one hand resting on Sephiroth's wrist and he resisted the temptation to purr in pleasure at that action and knowledge. "But...we can't just base our relationship on sex, there has to be something more."

"I know Cloud, but...until you my life was made up of; duty, training and maintaining my body to perform that duty, playing lab rat for Hojo," Sephiroth couldn't help shivering at _that_ particular item, and Cloud reached up to stroke his hair soothingly, "and basically doing whatever Zack and Angeal wanted when they dragged me away from that." He'd sometimes missed sleep to make them happy, and they'd learned when the best times to try and grab him for some fun were, but things had changed since he'd been given to Cloud, and they seemed to approve. "I don't really have the outside interests you must have, or the sort of interests Zack and Angeal showed."

"You should try and find something you like doing then, something totally unrelated to work." Cloud popped a small sausage roll into Sephiroth's mouth as he opened it to speak and Sephiroth couldn't hide his pleased response to that. "It would be suspicious if we sparred together, I'm not good enough to be a match for you, I know, and people would wonder why you were bothering with me."

"What sort of thing would you suggest then?" He wanted to please Cloud, and if Cloud suggested things he could do in his off-duty hours it was more likely to become something they'd have in common.

"Sephiroth..."

"Please. I don't know what a normal thing to do would be, and I _am_ yours, my interests should be based on what you want in a partner." He hesitated before continuing to speak. "And...we need to talk about our link, and if you want me to start taking action against Gregori. I've done some research and background work, but...I can't really talk to the people he's driven out of the SOLDIER program, they won't be willing to talk to me. And I can't ask Zack to talk to them without your approval." He'd _tried_, but he just couldn't get the words out, he thought it was because he'd talked about finding a way to deal with Gregori before Cloud had completed their link, and Cloud had been very keen on the idea, at least once he'd talked him into it. Cloud sighed, sounding resigned when he did speak.

"I like doing those word and number puzzles you find in newspapers, I've usually got a book of them with me, like this." Cloud showed him a small book and Sephiroth looked through it quickly. "There's also other sorts of puzzles, or you could try card games, or jigsaws, or something similar. Or you could try reading for pleasure. And yes, if you want to ask Zack to help with sorting Gregori out then go ahead."

"Thank you. Cloud...I don't have any control over our link, I can't keep you from sensing what I think or feel, and I can't use it to contact you. Will you try to use it please?" Cloud frowned, and Sephiroth could see the concentration on his face.

'_Like this you mean?'_ Sephiroth could feel Cloud's desire for him, as well as hear his words through their link, and it was accompanied by a hint of self-doubt that paralleled his own doubts, the doubts that Cloud seemed to sense and soothed with his hunger and desire for him.

'_Yes. I think that if you use this, at night perhaps, it will give us more time between meetings if we need it, say if one of us is assigned away from Midgar.'_

'_We'll see.'_ But there was a hint of approval in Cloud's emotions. '_Eat for now. By the way, Zack suggested I watch him and Angeal do a scene with you to learn about aftercare.'_

'_If that is what you wish.'_ He knew that Cloud could feel his mingled shame and arousal at the prospect, and Cloud responded with reassuring emotions, desire and a love he felt unworthy of.

'_It does sound interesting, and it will help me learn how to take care of you.'_ So the matter was settled and Cloud didn't seem to see the need to use their link any further as they ate.

xoXox

Cloud had known they were going to end up in bed tonight, but he'd wanted more control than he'd had last time. So he forced himself to pull back from kissing Sephiroth so urgently, and waited for _both_ of them to get their breathing under control.

"Cloud?" Sephiroth sounded uncertain, and Cloud could feel his self-doubts through their link, doubts he almost instinctively soothed by sort of 'wrapping' Sephiroth's mind in his desire and affection for him.

"I want to take this slow, and I want _control_. So, why don't you get undressed for me now?"

"Yes Cloud." Sephiroth glanced over at a door; the door to his bedroom, even if Cloud didn't understand how he knew that; but stood and began stripping slowly, sensually, and Cloud opened his pants to accommodate his growing arousal. Sephiroth ended up on his knees in front of Cloud once he was naked, and _that_ gave Cloud an idea. He leaned forward and grabbed hold of Sephiroth's hair pulling his head forward and down until the other man took his cock into his mouth.

'_Don't try to make me come, not yet. I want you to make this long, slow and teasing. And meanwhile, as a distraction for the two of us I want you to use this link to tell me_ all _about your sexual preferences.'_ It was something Cloud needed to know anyway, and then he could figure out what he was willing to give his lover.

'_Yes Cloud.'_ Sephiroth made a happy sound around his cock as he responded, and Cloud let go of the hair he'd grabbed, stroking it instead. '_Where should I start?'_ Good question, if the information Cloud got wasn't specific enough then he wouldn't know how to deal with Sephiroth properly; he'd had the feeling once or twice that Sephiroth had been enjoying the fact that he was pleasing Cloud more than what Cloud was doing when they'd been together that first week.

'_For a start I think I'll suggest some situations, and you can tell me how you'd feel about them.'_ He might as well use their link, so that he could get used to it, and to keep from feeling self-conscious at being the only one talking aloud. '_Let's start with Zack and Angeal fucking you while I watch, what does that idea do to you?'_ Since he'd more or less agreed to that already.

'_I...do you mean simple fucking, like with Angeal in my mouth and Zack in my ass or something like that, or one of the dominance games we play?'_

'_Would it make a difference?'_ Cloud wouldn't have expected it to. '_Tell me about both of them. The dominance games first.'_ Since it would be the dominance games they'd need to demonstrate to teach Cloud about aftercare.

'_Ashamed, almost humiliated at first, that you'd be seeing me submit so readily to someone else, even at your command. But...I'd be excited by the humiliation too, and I'd probably lose myself in what we were doing faster than usual, and I'd stop registering things sooner. If it was just sex...I'd always be aware of your presence, it would help if you were enjoying watching me with Zack and Angeal, if you weren't and I could tell then I don't think I could handle it.'_ Cloud was aware that Sephiroth was being almost painfully honest, and he appreciated it, even if he wasn't going to actually _say_ it, but he did send a sort of mental caress and feelings of approval through the link with his next scenario.

'_How about if I tied you up to fuck you?'_ He didn't need words to interpret the flood of arousal and pleasure that suggestion triggered, but he waited for them anyway.

'_I'd love that. If it was something I could break then it's about your will over mine, the bonds just there to remind me not to move except as you allow it. And if they were something I _couldn't _break...' _He trailed off momentarily conveying half-formed images instead of words. '_I'd love the sense of being helpless with you, the idea that I couldn't do anything to stop you if you did something I wasn't happy with.'_ But there was a hint of fear coming through Sephiroth's arousal, a hint of fear that Cloud found himself homing in on and drawing to his lover's attention in a wordless question. '_The way I'm bound to you, I'd be helpless if you decided to hurt me even if I wasn't restrained. I think I could spar with you if you wished it, but I certainly couldn't fight you, even now.'_ Cloud _really_ didn't like the sound of that, it made it all too clear how easy it would be for him to abuse Sephiroth, and he didn't want to act that way, so he shifted to a slightly different scenario.

'_I know you like it when I bite you, as long as it isn't anywhere too sensitive, but what about scratching you, or spanking you?'_ He wasn't sure where the idea of spanking Sephiroth came from...although Sephiroth's heightened arousal gave him an idea.

'_Angeal and Zack won't_ risk _biting me, but I just wish I could get away with wearing whatever marks you wanted to give me all day; I'll have to use Cure on them when they're in places exposed by my uniform, even if I want people to see and know I belong to you. And if you wanted to spank me I think it sounds like fun.'_ That wasn't the word Cloud would have used, but if Sephiroth liked the idea it was something to bear in mind, and he obviously did from the renewed eagerness he was sucking Cloud with, and from the hand he'd slipped between his legs.

'_And marking you by coming in your face, or somewhere else?'_

'_It's something I like, a lot._ And apparently something he did with Angeal and Zack from that simple answer.

'_How about blindfolds, earplugs and gags?'_

'_I..._yes_, please. The thought of you controlling my senses, what I see and hear, and what I say...'_ Sephiroth's arousal at the idea told Cloud all he needed to know about his opinion of that suggestion, and he thought he'd found out enough to be making a start.

'_One last thing, then you can make me come, and come yourself as well.'_ Cloud could sense a hint of shame and embarrassment, Sephiroth seemed to think he wasn't supposed to be pleasuring himself as well. '_Tell me one fantasy you have about the two of us.'_

'_Rufus ShinRa demands a private meeting with the three of us, and he asks you to force me to have sex with him. You refuse, and to rub it in, you strip me and take me in front of him, showing him that I belong to you, and that he has no right to my body.'_ Cloud was sure that there was more detail to that fantasy, but he didn't ask, it told him that Sephiroth had a faintly exhibitionist streak, and he hadn't thought to ask about anyone else watching Sephiroth with him. He could concentrate enough to think about it further, because Sephiroth swallowed around his dick, and Cloud could feel the head hit the back of Sephiroth's throat just before he came.

Cloud let his hand fall from Sephiroth's hair, freeing the other man to kneel back, showing the seed splattered at his groin, and stood himself, offering a hand to help Sephiroth up.

"Do you think we have time to continue this in your bedroom?"

"If you want to, yes." Sephiroth was keeping his eyes cast down, but Cloud could hear his breath quicken, so he _knew_ his lover wasn't just being polite.

"Oh _yes_, I certainly want to."

xoXox

Sephiroth knew he had a stupid smile on his face as Cloud pulled him through to his bedroom, but he didn't _care_. Cloud had _asked_ about what sort of thing he liked in bed, he'd given Sephiroth permission to get Zack involved in their campaign against Gregori, and most importantly, when Sephiroth had told him a bit about how much power Cloud had over him Cloud had been _uncomfortable_ with the idea. He hadn't _said_ anything when Sephiroth explained, but the fact that he'd changed the subject had been a big clue, and Sephiroth wasn't entirely certain that Cloud _hadn't_ intended him to feel the discomfort that leaked through their link.

"Would you like to undress me?" The veiled order broke through his pleasant daze, reminding him of the equally pleasant reality.

"Please." He knelt in front of Cloud, and waited for him to lift his foot, letting the image of what he expected fill his mind, hopefully telling him what to do without implying that he'd ordered his keeper. Once Cloud had braced himself with a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder he removed each of Cloud's boots in turn, and the socks as well, before standing and pulling Cloud's sweater over his head. That was the last thing he'd need his hands for, and he folded them behind his back in a reminder not to use them again.

Cloud laughed when he unfastened the top button of his shirt with his teeth, lifting his hands to rest them on the back of Sephiroth's head, playing with his hair rather than trying to control his actions. At least, Cloud didn't control Sephiroth's actions until his shirt had fallen open far enough to expose his nipples, even letting Sephiroth kiss and lick the exposed skin instead of forcing him to continue with his task. But then he wrapped his hands in Sephiroth's hair, guiding him to suck on Cloud's right nipple, which he did until Cloud decided to move Sephiroth's mouth to his left nipple, and he only continued on with his task of undressing Cloud when he seemed to tire of having Sephiroth's mouth on his nipples.

When he'd finished unfastening the shirt Sephiroth nuzzled at Cloud's groin, he'd put his cock back inside his boxers, but left his pants open, making this task a little bit easier for Sephiroth. Then he stood and took the edge of Cloud's collar in his teeth, pulling it back to expose Cloud's shoulder and repeating his action on the other side, Cloud looked a little surprised, but he dropped his arms to his sides so that once Sephiroth had got the shirt partway down his arms it fell under gravity. That let him get back to Cloud's pants, and he nuzzled at Cloud's groin again before beginning the painstaking work of pulling the pants down using only his teeth to grip the cloth.

"Enough." There was laughter in Cloud's voice as he pushed Sephiroth to sit back on his heels once he'd worked Cloud's pants down to his knees, and the blond finished undressing himself. "Come and join me on the bed." Cloud sat down on it and patted the bed beside him, and Sephiroth responded by crawling over to the bed before standing to sit beside him.

"What would you like now?" He only spoke when it was clear that Cloud wasn't going to do or say anything himself, and his keeper laughed unexpectedly.

"Good. You'd never really been passive with me during that week, but I wanted to check." Had he done something tonight to make Cloud worry about that? "No, but I wasn't certain how much effect completing our link had on your behaviour, and I know you weren't exactly passive the next morning, but...I was a wreck then, and it throws things off."

"At least your experimental method doesn't involve performing operations without anaesthetic." Sephiroth spoke without thinking, he knew it bothered Angeal and Zack to hear about his time in Hojo's lab, especially since he wasn't bitter about it the way they expected him to be. Even so, he hadn't expected the flare of incandescent fury burning across their link from Cloud, and he whimpered from the pain in his head as his keeper grabbed him by the arms.

"_Who_ did that to you? Who abused you that way? Tell me so that I can _kill_ the bastard!"

"You _can't_ Cloud. It was Hojo, and he's too important to the company for them to let you kill him. And if you do you'll never be as strong as he could make you."

"Do you think I _care_? Keeping you safe comes first."

"And you'll be able to do that now, if you kill Hojo they'll probably kill you. I couldn't handle that." Sephiroth knew that was the truth, and it had the benefit of calming Cloud down a little, as did his next words. "At least you can stop him doing anything like that again." Hojo would probably know enough about the protectiveness he'd built into Cloud not to try, and for the most part he was past the point where Hojo wanted to experiment on him anyway.

"And I will, I promise." Cloud released his grip on Sephiroth's arms to wrap his own around him, kissing his forehead lightly. Sephiroth shut his eyes, relaxing in Cloud's hold and waiting for him to decide what to do next, sliding his own arms around Cloud's waist when he got the chance.

xoXox

Cloud had a lot to think about as he returned to his room: the barren nature of Sephiroth's life until now; the way he was paralysed when it came to implementing a plan they'd discussed together; the way _Cloud_ had total control over their link; what he'd learned so far about Sephiroth's sexual preferences; the fact that Hojo had abused him, and Sephiroth didn't want Cloud to take vengeance on his behalf; and how very yielding Sephiroth had been when they made love. The issues could be grouped together into three pairs, and he decided to consider each pair in turn.

The simplest pair of issues was what he knew of his lover's sexual preferences, and how yielding he was; he could handle what Sephiroth wanted, but he didn't think his lover would be quite so yielding all the time and Cloud didn't _want_ him to be. If he did turn out to be so yielding all the time then Cloud would do what he could to make him a bit more aggressive in bed, but he had reason enough to believe he wouldn't be.

Next was the apparent control Cloud had over Sephiroth and their link; it was worrying, but Cloud couldn't think of a way to deal with it. He'd known that he had control over Sephiroth before of course, that was the _point_ of their link, but he hadn't expected the indirect aspects, he'd thought it would just be a matter of Sephiroth having to obey direct orders, not him requiring direct orders for some things. Something about the link also seemed to compel him to touch Sephiroth, and display his 'ownership' of the General, but he thought he could keep that under control if he saw him often enough in private, and especially if he could use his link to keep tabs on him.

Last and most worrying was the clear evidence that Sephiroth had been severely abused, and _didn't_ want Cloud to take vengeance on his tormentor for him. Having no life outside of his duties, and being subjected to what were obviously painful tests without anyone caring for his injuries were two obvious signs that he was so accustomed to abuse that he'd even been willing to hide it, because he'd learned that no one would help him, or because he was ashamed of being abused. Cloud wasn't certain if Sephiroth had been so insistent that he shouldn't kill Hojo from the purely practical reasons he'd explained earlier, or because he'd been trained not to even think of taking vengeance. Either way Cloud suspected it would be healthier for his lover if he could at least be there when Hojo was killed, and give his consent for that, or better, kill the bastard himself.

He'd think about that later; for now he needed to deal with his room mates, and to explain to them why he hadn't been promoted to SOLDIER 3rd class and trained with all the others who'd taken the Exam with him. The cover story was pretty simple; Hojo had been _very_ interested in the results he got back from the test he ran on Cloud, and he'd demanded that Cloud be made into a SOLDIER despite failing the interview so that he could play with him. It was even the truth in a way, and he could tell them about his interview with Gregori if he needed to.

He knocked at the door to give anyone inside some warning before he went in, stripping off his sweater as he did.

"Odin's Eye! You're just a kid!" Both of his room mates were ten years older than he was, at _least_, he didn't recognise them from his Exam, or any he'd had the chance to see and something about them said they'd had their first Mako treatment a while back; they were probably content with their positions and resigned to not getting any further.

"I'm over the minimum age to join SOLDIER." If only just, his fifteenth birthday had been just two days before the Exam started, or he'd have had to wait another six months; fourteen year old boys could start _training_ to enter SOLDIER, but they couldn't sit the exams, and twenty-five was the oldest you could be when you sat the Exams.

"Not by much I'll bet. So what's a young prodigy like you doing rooming with a pair of old plodders like us?" Cloud knew he had to be blushing at the way the older of the other SOLDIERs described him, but...

"They probably figured there wouldn't be jealousy issues with you two." He wasn't going to say _why_ people might be jealous of him, not unless he was asked; odds were they could come up with reasons themselves - _Zack_ had been nearly sixteen when he qualified for SOLDIER, and until Cloud he'd been the youngest SOLDIER ever except for Sephiroth.

"You have problems with your last room mates then?" The younger SOLDIER sat up as he spoke, while the older one still lay back on his bed.

"I spent the last month in Hojo's lab, getting my first set of enhancements because he wanted to run an experiment on me."

"You mean you _failed_ the Exam and were admitted to the SOLDIER program anyway?" The older SOLDIER sat up then, surprise in his voice and on his face.

"Yes, Professor Hojo insisted that I be used for this experiment even though SOLDIER 1st class Gregori felt my interview showed me to be unsuitable for SOLDIER." He'd decided to defend himself from any veiled accusations with that simple implication that he hadn't received a fair hearing..._if_ the younger SOLDIER had ever dealt with Gregori it would probably work.

"Let me guess, he asked you two questions then dismissed you when he heard you admired the General?" The redhead was heavily muscled _now_, but his hair fell just past his shoulders and there was a delicacy to his bone structure that said he'd been 'pretty' before he was enhanced. "I'm Geran by the way, and this is Daniel. You didn't give us your name either."

"I'm Cloud, and you're right, he dismissed me before asking all the questions he should have. Did he do the same to you?"

"Yes, but SOLDIER 1st class Angeal had made it clear to everyone that we were allowed three chances at the SOLDIER Entrance Exams, that the requirements to reach interview were greater each time, and that we'd be interviewed by a different SOLDIER 1st class every time we got to interview. SOLDIER 1st class Raven didn't even ask me my opinion of the General. Good job too, because it hadn't changed."

"You need to talk to the General about that. Professor Hojo had him in for a few tests when he was working on me, and he mentioned that he was collecting things he could use against Gregori. He was _very_ pleased to hear that _I_ had a reason for complaint against him, more than one actually, because it gave him something new he could investigate."

"I couldn't talk to _General Sephiroth_." Geran sounded horrified by the idea, not that Cloud entirely blamed him for that, but...

"What about SOLDIER 1st class Zack then? Could you talk to him, or to SOLDIER 1st class Angeal?"

"I...maybe. Do you know where you're assigned yet?"

"No, for the moment I'm just training by myself, but..."

"I can show you where any official messages for you would be held tomorrow, but you'll have to get up early." Cloud smiled at Daniel when he made his offer.

"Then I'd best get to sleep now, so I won't have a problem waking up early enough. Thanks." He deliberately finished undressing in front of them; Sephiroth had gotten him past his earlier embarrassment about his appearance, after all if the General liked how he looked his body couldn't be as bad as he'd thought it was.

xoXox

Sephiroth looked through the lists he compiled of people who might be able to tell him something useful, he hadn't quite realised how many people Gregori had affected before this, and he really should have. He had four filters; the cadets he'd trained - ignoring those who dropped out for now - divided into the ones who'd applied again after failing the first time, the ones who hadn't and the ones who passed at their first attempt and the applicants he'd failed on interview. He'd added the last filter just today, since he'd been entirely focused on the cadets Gregori had been in charge of training until last night when Cloud had contacted him with the information that one of his room mates, both of whom had been trained under Angeal, had experienced the same sort of interview that Cloud had. Later Sephiroth might add the applicants Gregori had passed in the interview, but only if he needed to, if it would add to the case against him or something similar.

"Sephiroth?" Zack sounded unhappy about something, probably the timing of his request to come to his office. "You do realise it's lunch time, right?" Did he think Sephiroth was disobeying Cloud's orders and starting to neglect his health again?

"Yes, but I wanted to ask you to do something for me, and I'd rather no one saw me give you the lists."

"Lists?"

"Of people who might have evidence against Gregori. A month ago I learned that he doesn't complete the interviews properly if he disapproves of an applicant, and that he doesn't let all the cadets trained under him know that they have three chances at the SOLDIER Entrance Exams. I've been collecting the names of people to question about this, and I intend to do some analysis of how well they've done since they had to contend with him, compared to how he rated them. But I can't actually ask them the questions I need answers to without drawing too much attention to my actions, besides which I doubt they would be comfortable answering the questions for me."

"You are a bit intimidating. What do you want me to ask them?" Zack sounded more relaxed now as Sephiroth stood up from his computer, picking up the lists he'd selected as the first priority from his printer.

"You need to ask the people on this list if they were ever told that they could retake the SOLDIER Entrance Exams; Cloud wasn't."

"What? That bastard didn't even bother to let Cloud know he could try again?" Sephiroth shared Zack's outrage, but he'd had time to convince himself _not_ to go and beat Gregori up for what he'd done.

"Worse. I got the impression that Cloud was led to believe he only had _one_ chance to be accepted into SOLDIER. Please, don't do anything that can be traced back to you." There was no point in asking him not to do anything rash. "This list are people who Gregori failed at the interview, you need to ask them about the sort of questions he asked; he dismissed Cloud when he learned that he admired me, and did the same with one of Cloud's room mates. And you need to ask both questions of the people on this list." He'd ask Angeal to question the cadets trained by Gregori who applied for the SOLDIER Entrance Exams more than once; his teacher was a bit less approachable than Zack was and he half felt the cadets who'd kept the knowledge that they could apply more than once a secret were almost as guilty as Gregori was.

"I'll do that for you. And I swear I'll keep records of it all." Since Zack's paperwork tended to be abysmal.

"Thank you, and ask everyone if they're willing to testify about how he treated them if they need to."

"Sure." Zack made an obvious, conscious effort to change the subject. "Do you want to come and have lunch with me now? And you could tell me what went on last night."

"Of course I'll eat with you." If nothing else it would be a good cover for him giving the lists to Zack. "Will Angeal be there as well?" His two lovers tended to gang up on him when they thought he needed to take care of himself better, and if Zack 'dragged' him to meet with Angeal for lunch everyone would just assume he'd fallen back into his old habits of overworking and neglecting his body's needs. It had caused more gossip when he started taking care of himself than seeing that probably would; Zack had said the rumour was that the week he'd spent in Hojo's care had been some sort of motivation to avoid working himself to exhaustion the way he had before.

"Yeah, we were going to meet for lunch five minutes ago, he'll be glad to see you."

"I haven't been neglecting you two over the past three weeks, and I doubt Cloud would make me neglect you." He admired Zack at least too much for that.

"Yeah, but we were a bit worried about what might have happened last night." Sephiroth smiled at Zack in appreciation as he locked the office behind him; it was comforting to know that Zack and Angeal were concerned about him, even if they wouldn't have the ability to stop Cloud if he chose to abuse him.

"Then I'll be happy to talk to you both about last night if it will make you feel better."

xoXox


	4. Chapter 4

Cloud dropped the weighted backpack he'd been given to carry during these tests as soon as he saw someone else doing the same. It was all too obvious that he was in the worst physical condition of the new SOLDIERs 3rd class; he just didn't have the same stamina they had, not when it came to running or obstacle course, because he'd spent the last month in the labs. Most of his training there had been in swordwork, and working on his strength and co-ordination and getting used to his new strength and reflexes and the rest of the group had started training almost a month before him. Although it did seem as if _some_ thought had been put into scheduling his enhancements, since when Daniel had taken him to pick up any messages for him he'd been sent to join the new SOLDIER intake that morning for the first standardised tests during their training. In a week they'd be split up into two groups of ten, instead of the twenty of them training together now, based on how well they did in all of the tests.

"Go get something to eat and report back in an hour." Cloud followed along with the crowd when the sergeant dismissed them, hoping no one was going to say anything about his performance _or_ ask where he'd been since the Exams. Not that there was any chance of him avoiding questions, not really, but he could still hope for a while; although the alternative really was for everyone to ignore him, and he wasn't sure he wanted that.

"Cloud? How the hell did you manage to get past being interviewed by Gregori?" Damon had taken almost as much abuse from the instructors as Cloud had, over his long hair rather than Cloud's height and lack of obvious muscle, and he'd claimed the only reason he didn't quit was that _Cloud_ hadn't, even though he had to deal with more abuse. "And if you managed to get past that how come you're joining us so late?"

"I didn't get past him, but Professor Hojo apparently kicked up a fuss that Gregori hadn't obeyed his implied orders and passed me through regardless of the results of the interview and demanded that I be made a SOLDIER anyway, so he could run an experiment on me." Cloud paused, and injected a wistful note into his voice before he continued speaking. "What's a real interview like anyway? You had SOLDIER 1st class Angeal for yours didn't you?"

"Hard. He wanted to know all sorts of things, why I wanted to join SOLDIER, what made me think I'd be any use to the program, if I'd ever encountered monsters besides the 'chaperoned training exercises we put on for cadets' - his words not mine."

"_What_ chaperoned training exercises? I remember being split into groups of six, taken somewhere there'd been reports of monsters, given a rendezvous point and time and dumped with orders to kill at least one monster each, and bring back evidence." They'd barely survived - and that was only because Zack had lent Cloud a nearly mastered Restore the day before the exercise. Three of Cloud and Damon's team had quit after that and Sinon had quit a week later after their sword master had ignored his opponent attacking when his back was turned once too often.

"Maybe a couple of the instructors were travelling with us, but without letting us know they were there? They could have only been supposed to do anything if we really needed their help?" Damon sounded hopeful, but not as if he really expected that to have happened; there'd been one too many occasions when they'd _really_ needed help, but hadn't got any for either of them to believe that.

"What are you two talking about? We had an instructor with us the whole time!" Harry and the other nine from their class who'd got through hadn't been among the few favourites Gregori had; oddly enough none of the cadets who'd taken advantage of the way Gregori ran his program to bully Cloud and Damon when they could had got through the Exams. Cloud reached through his link with Sephiroth to check he wasn't going to be interrupting anything and contacted him while he left Damon to respond to Harry.

"_You_ might have had an instructor with you, and the other eight groups might have, but our group didn't."

'_Sephiroth, something else came up; in the training exercises where cadets are supposed to face monsters, for the first time officially, nine out of ten of the groups in my class had an instructor accompany them, my group didn't, and we included all the 'pretty' cadets or cadets with long hair.'_

'_Thank you, I'll get Zack and Angeal to check up on that too, and I'll see if I can find any recorded evidence of that. If there's any reports of cadets being killed in that exercise...'_ Sephiroth trailed off, as if he didn't want to disturb Cloud with what he'd started to think, but Cloud had thought Gregori had been trying to kill them with that exercise since the first time he'd resorted to using the Restore materia. He'd cast a Cure2, at the limit of his abilities because he hadn't wanted to believe he'd need to use a Cure earlier, he'd wanted to believe there was an instructor monitoring them who'd intervene if they needed the healing they didn't have the resources for.

'_You're welcome. And...we only survived because of the Restore Zack lent me, he can give you the details.'_ He'd ended up mastering the Restore during the exercise, and Zack had said he could _keep_ the newly spawned materia.

"You did _notice_ that half of our group quit after that little episode didn't you? Apart from Cloud they're the ones who came closest to being _killed_ on that 'training exercise' and _Cloud_ almost killed _himself_ healing us all since not one of us thought about asking to use his Restore to give him a break until it was almost too late. I swear that bastard looked _disappointed_ we'd managed to avoid getting killed."

"Damon, enough. He couldn't have known about how we were treated." Cloud was surprised that his friend listened to him, falling silent and looking away from Harry, focusing on Cloud instead. "And it wasn't his duty to know." It wasn't Sephiroth's either; there were a couple of layers between the General and the workings of the training branch, but even Gregori hadn't been able to totally stuff his training group with sadistic bigots, and one of the halfway decent instructors should have noticed and reported his perversion of proper training. "So, eleven of us were trained in Gregori's latest class; what about the rest of you?" It worked to change the subject at least.

xoXox

'_Sephiroth,"_ He did his best not to let it show that he'd just heard Cloud's voice in his mind, but his sudden stillness seemed to alert Angeal and Zack anyway. "_something else came up; in the training exercises where cadets are supposed to face monsters, for the first time officially, nine out of ten of the groups in my class had an instructor accompany them, my group didn't, and we included all the 'pretty' cadets or cadets with long hair.'_

'_Thank you, I'll get Zack and Angeal to check up on that too, and I'll see if I can find any recorded evidence of that. If there's any reports of cadets being killed in that exercise...'_ It would give him some extra ammunition against Gregori, even if it did come at the cost of the lives of men who deserved better than they'd got. And he could see if anyone had _said_ anything about this to anyone outside Gregori's sphere of influence now, or at least make a start.

'_You're welcome. And...we only survived because of the Restore Zack lent me, he can give you the details.'_

"Angeal, when you were interviewing the applicants how did they react to the question about facing monsters outside the training exercises?"

"Did you mean any applicants in particular? Or do you want a run down of how all of them reacted?"

"The ones Gregori was in charge of training; you had what, six of them to interview?"

"Yes, and I found three of them were worth being made into SOLDIERs. I'm not _supposed_ to be dismissing half the applicants I see at interview, but two of them were all too obviously bullies and the last one was a bit too reserved for me to get a good feel for him." Sephiroth had to wonder how many bullies Gregori had put through when he did his interviews but he could find that out by asking Cloud later. "Most of them had pretty normal reactions, either their experience with monsters was limited to the training exercises or they'd had to run away from something before they entered cadet training. But there was one of them, a redhead called Damon, who looked surprised at how I described the training exercises. He said they were his only experience in facing monsters, and that he found the teamwork Cloud had encouraged to be the best way for unenhanced men to face them."

"_Cloud_ encouraged the teamwork? He's almost as antisocial as _you_ are Sephiroth." He couldn't blame Zack for his shock, and...

"Cloud attributes their survival to the Restore you lent him...did he say anything to you about that?"

"He said he'd needed to use it a lot during the exercise, and he tried to offer me the materia that had spawned during it. He must have been facing a lot of monsters, because I didn't think it was that close to being mastered." Sephiroth had expected a bit more in the way of detail than that but...

"Did he say anything else to you about the exercise?"

"No, except that all his team had survived it. I lent him the Restore because he'd been worrying about that, but I thought his comment about them all surviving the exercise was a joke. Are you saying it wasn't?"

"Apparently his team didn't have an instructor with them to guide them on the exercise." Sephiroth really wasn't happy about that and he let it show. "When you ask your questions I want you to also ask them about that exercise, and find out whether they had an instructor with them, and if they tried to report it if they didn't."

"Yes sir."

"Angeal, I have a list that I want you to question, the question I wanted you to ask was when they found out that they could apply for the SOLDIER Entrance Exams more than once, and how they learned it. But now I also want you to ask about which instructors they had with them on the monster training exercise."

"I can do that. You want me to scare them a bit?" Angeal had an almost feral grin on his face at the idea, and Sephiroth returned it with a smile of his own.

"Please _do_. Find an excuse to come to my office and I'll give you the list then." Sephiroth hesitated...if Damon had been in Cloud's group he had to be either pretty or long haired and he shouldn't ask which, but he felt oddly _jealous_, even though there was no rational reason for him to be. "Do you know why Gregori would have had problems with Damon?"

"Long hair - to his shoulders the way mine is."

"His usual stupidity then."

"Indeed." Sephiroth agreed with Zack quietly and decided to change the subject. "Does it bother you two that Cloud takes priority over you? I know you'd made plans for yesterday evening." Even if he hadn't agreed to them and had told his lovers that he wanted to wait for his keeper's decision.

"Not really. We made those plans to help Cloud learn how to take care of you, and at least he's made sure you'll take care of _yourself_ now. We've had more time with you over the past three weeks than we usually get. And besides, I think Cloud will be too busy with the tests he's doing to spend much time with you this week."

"Probably." And it would most likely affect his results negatively if they tried to find time to spend together. Bad enough he'd kept Cloud last night, especially considering the first day of tests was the most demanding physically, or so he understood, but they'd _needed_ the contact, their need wasn't as urgent now. Or at least his wasn't, and from what Sephiroth understood about Hojo's work his need for Cloud's touch was supposed to be greater than Cloud's need for his. Sephiroth vowed to do his best to keep his lover from tiring himself out unnecessarily for the rest of the week; he could settle for mental contact if he had to.

xoXox

Cloud wasn't sure it would be polite for him to contact Sephiroth while he was eating with the rest of the group, but they were mostly leaving him out of the conversation, since he'd been the one most tired out by the day's tests. He needed to make sure that Sephiroth wasn't going to be expecting him tonight anyway, so that he could spend time with his other lovers if he wanted to, since Cloud wanted to be rested up for the next day of tests.

_'Sephiroth.'_ He could tell that his lover was alone in his office when he contacted him and Cloud wasn't sure he liked that, even if it was convenient for him to communicate with him. _'You're still working?'_

_'I've got a list of people for Angeal to investigate, but I don't want anyone to see me give it to him since we're not _supposed_ to be playing politics inside the army and I don't want Gregori to have a chance to fake evidence to defend himself. So we're pretending that today I "forgot" my new resolution to stop overworking myself and they're taking turns to drag me away from the office. How did the testing go today?'_ Cloud _wished_ Sephiroth hadn't brought that up because he'd performed so poorly, but he'd answer honestly.

_'I was the worst in the group, the slowest and I've got the least endurance. I'm probably going to end up in the bottom group...that's going to mess up what's planned for me isn't it?'_ He didn't like the idea that he was going to disappoint Sephiroth, but if he was expected to be good enough to promote to SOLDIER 2nd class without it looking suspicious in five months he wouldn't be able to avoid it.

_'Not necessarily. There are four parts to the tests; the running and obstacle courses you did today, a "tournament" tomorrow in which you'll spar with six different opponents for no more than an hour each time, a small unit tactics computer simulation scored by the computer and a two day monster hunt with up to four Regulars under your command. Your placement will be based on how you do in each area.'_ That was a relief...with the teachers Cloud had been working with over the last month his swordwork was _at least_ as good as the rest of the group's, or it should be, and he thought he was pretty familiar with the computer simulation Sephiroth was referring to.

_'What do you mean when you say "tournament"? And I take it the computer simulation test will be like the simulations I've worked on in the labs? The tech said they were the same as the ones you worked on when you were ten.'_

_'You'll fight two rounds where the winners of each spar are grouped together and so are the losers, giving four groups of five, then in each group every SOLDIER will spar all other people from that group and the ranking within the group will be decided by the observers.'_ So, they'd probably spend seven to eight hours on this tournament, but what if... _'None of them are connected to the cadet training groups though, so you don't need to worry about Gregori's prejudices affecting your chances._

_'The computer simulation test uses the same software as the simulations you trained on, but there are a few differences. In the morning the test will be like the simulations you're used to, but in the afternoon you'll be split into two sides and assigned an overall commander, usually from one of the more advanced groups.'_ That sounded...really interesting actually. Cloud had the suspicion that the third day of testing was going to feel more like a game, to him at least.

_'Thank you for the warning. Do you need me to stop distracting you then?'_

_'It would be helpful. I do need to do _some_ work to explain why I'm here at the moment, even if I am stealing time to start checking Gregori's history with the monster hunting exercise.'_

_'I'll contact you at lunch tomorrow if I want to see you that evening, otherwise I'll contact you around ten in the evening.'_ Cloud hesitated in case Sephiroth wanted to 'say' anything else then stopped using their link to stay in mental contact with Sephiroth. Now he began pushing himself back into the conversation, interjecting comments and questions where it was appropriate.

"Anyone got any clues what we're going to be doing tomorrow?" Cloud decided to stay silent for a while, to find out what the others knew.

"I heard we get tested on swordwork, tactics, the obstacle courses and monster hunting. Don't know what the order is though."

"I heard the monster hunt's last because it takes two day. How they're going to do the tactics testing..."

"Does anyone have any ideas about that?"

"I do. Tactics are tested using the computer simulations the General trained on when he was ten, and that's the day after tomorrow." Cloud wasn't going to say anything else about that, he'd be too likely to give something away, but there were things he could say safely enough. "I did some work on them in the labs, so I'm looking forward to that. And to the swordwork testing since _Zack's_ been training me to within an inch of my life there."

"You'll need to do really well to get them to overlook how much you screwed up today."

"Yeah, but I think I've got an advantage in the simulations, and in tomorrow's swordwork tests. I _know_ my teacher's better than yours is."

"Lucky bastard, studying with a SOLDIER 1st class." Cloud wasn't sure who said that, but he laughed and agreed anyway.

xoXox

Sephiroth had a faint smile on his face as Angeal 'dragged' him out of his office. It had sometimes been a bit of a game for him, making one of his lovers prove that he mattered to them by coming and getting him when he stayed late, but he'd generally not dared to stay working late if they let him know they had plans for him. He glanced at his one-time teacher, an eyebrow raised in inquiry as they turned towards the SOLDIER sleeping quarters not the SOLDIER 1st class mess, and Angeal smiled at him.

"We arranged for a meal for the three of us to be served in my quarters."

"I see." Sephiroth's breath caught in his throat for a moment as he responded, he _knew_ what that meant, and it was one of the games he enjoyed most, making him feel pampered and treasured, like he was a real person, not just ShinRa's pet monster. Angeal looked at him with obvious possessive approval, ignoring the fact that people _were_ around to see them, something he'd become more conscious of lately. Apparently it was 'common knowledge' that Sephiroth was in a relationship with the other two men, or so Zack assured him, so they didn't see the need to be as discreet as he had to be with Cloud. He just hoped that his keeper didn't become angry or jealous about that.

Angeal didn't say anything else as Sephiroth walked with him to his quarters, and Sephiroth worried at the question of whether he should ask Zack and Angeal to be more discreet from now on. He still loved the two of them, and he didn't want to hurt them, upset them, or drive them away, but now in a lot of ways his world centred on _Cloud_ and the situation wasn't fair on him. It bothered Sephiroth too...what if he forgot that he was only supposed to let people see he was in a relationship with his less important lovers and displayed his intimacy with his _most_ important lover without thinking? He could use that argument if he brought it up, but _not_ today, in a more...neutral situation; and...he probably shouldn't tell Angeal and Zack that they were less important to him than Cloud was, even if it was the truth.

Sephiroth began to remove his coat once the door was closed behind them, but Angeal took hold of his wrists and he stopped, letting his lover start undressing him instead. Zack stepped up to him and pulled Sephiroth's head down for a kiss while Angeal stood behind him, then he reached up and fastened the blindfold he'd been holding onto him. He relaxed instantly, the voluntary loss of his use of one sense telling him that he was somewhere safe, with someone he could trust to protect him if he needed it, that he didn't have to focus his senses to make sure he wasn't taken by surprise or attacked.

He let Zack lead him forward and tie his hands together behind his back with a scarf before helping him lie down on the cushions Angeal kept scattered across his floor. Then Zack pulled away and he could hear quiet sounds as Angeal sat by him, stroking his body gently, treating him as if he was fragile for just a little bit, and he could feel some of the day's tension leave his body.

"Don't say a word." Sephiroth purred in acknowledgement of the instructions Angeal whispered into his ear, and leaned into his older lover's touch.

He recognised Zack's lips on his mouth and obediently opened his own lips, the signal for Zack to let the wine he'd been holding in his mouth dribble into Sephiroth's. He swallowed it and then just waited, knowing that however his lovers chose to surprise him he wouldn't be hurt and enjoying the prospect. He opened his mouth when he felt fingers at his lips, holding a piece of chicken that had been cooked with garlic and paprika and he took the opportunity to suck on Angeal's fingers for a moment, doing the same with every piece of food he or Zack gave to him, and moaning in occasional pleasure.

"Up." Angeal was the one to speak to him again; Zack tended not to speak to _Sephiroth_ during this game, although he was perfectly happy to speak with Angeal without involving Sephiroth, and Sephiroth liked that a bit, especially since they tended to comment on how beautiful he was and how much he pleased them. He co-operated as much as he could as his lovers got him to his feet and moved him through to another room, untying his hands and lying him down on the low bed Angeal preferred.

Someone took hold of his wrists, pulling his arms above his head and tying his wrists to the bed frame, leaving plenty of slack. He caught the scent of bitter chocolate as warm oil was poured onto his chest and he felt Zack's strong, skilled hands massaging his chest, releasing more of the day's tension as Angeal lay beside him, stroking his hair and whispering in his ear. He gave soft moans of pleasure when Zack found particularly tense muscles and eased them into relaxation; the younger man liked to have plenty of feedback when he did this, even if it was all non-verbal and to encourage it he tended to 'pause' if Sephiroth _didn't_ respond. He liked that, being expected to show how he felt, instead of being expected _not_ to trouble real people with his emotions or needs, it told him that Zack _cared_ about how Sephiroth felt and wanted him to feel good; that he was willing to work to make sure Sephiroth felt good.

"I've finished the front. Help me roll him over onto his stomach?" Sephiroth didn't even try to resist as his lovers rolled him into the new position, and he kept on making small noises of pleasure as Zack finally worked out the last of the day's tension before he started preparing him. Angeal still whispered to him, keeping him relaxed, and then he was rolled so that his back was to Angeal while Zack lay down on his side in front of Sephiroth and kissed him as Angeal began pushing into him. He could feel it as Angeal stretched him even more as he pushed in almost torturously slowly, and it comforted him that Angeal cared enough to put his own pleasure aside to avoid hurting him, at least at first.

Zack slid his hand between their body, aligning his cock with Sephiroth's and jerking the two of them off irregularly, kissing Sephiroth, and bringing the two of them to climax shortly after Angeal's seed filled Sephiroth. He could feel Angeal's hands at his wrists, untying him then removing the blindfold as the man kissed the nape of his neck affectionately while Zack's lips moved down to explore his throat first, then his nipples as Zack's _hands_ roamed over Sephiroth's torso.

"Let's get you clean." Sephiroth relaxed as Angeal lifted him into his arms, enjoying the chance to let himself be weak for a while, and he luxuriated in the feel of Angeal's hands on his body, washing him clean, including his hair. Then when Zack joined them Sephiroth watched as the two of them washed each other clean before turning their attention back to him.

"You can speak now if you want." Zack confirmed the game was over as he began to dry Sephiroth down, towelling his body dry, and helping him put a robe on before he started using a hairdryer to deal with Sephiroth's soaking hair.

Except there wasn't anything he needed to say, and he let Zack's casual gossip wash over him, following him back to Angeal's bedroom and joining his lovers in bed. It almost felt better than the sex, sleeping between his lovers, wrapped in their arms and knowing that _he_ didn't have to be the one who stayed alert for threats, that he didn't have to keep his defences up even while he slept and he was allowed to sleep deeply.

xoXox

By the time he'd taken the SOLDIER Entrance Exam Cloud had become used to being at or near the bottom of the class in everything, and despite knowing about Gregori's prejudices he'd still feared it was because he truly _was_ the weakest cadet. Even though the mere fact that he'd been supposed to only have an interview as a 'formality' indicated that he'd done really well on the other tests he hadn't quite been able to make the mental adjustment. So it had shocked him a bit to win his first spar within twenty minutes, especially since he'd been fighting cautiously, so he'd still be fairly fresh for his later spars. His opponent had seemed to be moving really slowly to him, but then Cloud had spent the past month sparring exclusively and pretty intensively with SOLDIERs 1st class and _Sephiroth_.

"Get a drink you two and wait here. You'll be matched up against the next pair to finish sparring. Oh, and you can go to the toilet if you want to." The instructor seemed to be surprised at how quickly they'd finished, but they just saluted and went to get their water bottles.

"I guess I'm not much challenge if you're used to sparring with SOLDIERs 1st class." Cloud's opponent sounded just a little bit bitter at that.

"I'm pretty sure they held back for me, but you have had longer to get used to your enhancements than I have, so they had to work me harder." He wasn't going to mention that he'd been fighting cautiously, not when his opponent looked as if he'd been fighting full out, even if Cloud hadn't realised it before, while they were sparring.

"Do you know how many spars we're meant to do each?"

"Six. Two that split us up into the final groups, then we each spar against all the others in our group."

"Then I'm probably going to be in the bottom ten for this test."

"I don't know. But it's not like they're going to tell us how we did until the end of the tests." Cloud shrugged and took another drink, just before another instructor came in with a new opponent, and hauled _Cloud_ off to spar with _his_ next opponent. It wasn't Damon, and Cloud couldn't remember his name, but this time Cloud didn't bother trying to conserve his strength, he was pretty sure he'd get a chance to rest for a bit if he defeated this opponent quickly.

And he did get a chance to rest, for just over half an hour before regulars came and collected the two of them, taking Cloud to a new room, telling him that this gym was equipped to record his spars, meaning all forty of these spars could be judged by the same person if they had to be. This opponent was the best yet, and Cloud only just won, pulling a move he'd _never_ have risked against Zack or Angeal near the very end of the hour.

"You two can go and get something to eat now. Be back in forty minutes."

"I can't believe how good you've got in the last two months." Scott sounded astounded. "I really thought I had you there for a moment."

"When you're facing two SOLDIERs 1st class on a daily basis you either get good really fast or you give up." Cloud hesitated, but he was pretty sure he could soothe Scott's wounded ego, as long as he didn't catch the implications behind his next words. "And I had a bit more rest than you had before our match, I think you could have won if we'd been equally rested."

"No, I wouldn't. You only tried something like that because you could see I was getting tired didn't you? If I'd been able to rest between my rounds you'd have settled for a draw or a victory by points wouldn't you?" Cloud was struck speechless for a moment by that, the assumption that Cloud was the one in control throughout their spar, and that he would have won on points if he hadn't gone for that risky feint.

"I don't know. I was working on the assumption I'd have to go straight from this into my next spar. We should eat quickly, to make sure it doesn't interfere."

"Yeah." They ate together quickly, and reported back well within their time limit.

"Does one of you want to volunteer to take this next spar? We'll be letting your opponent go for lunch after this."

"I'll do it." Cloud wasn't entirely _happy_ about the idea of facing an opponent now, just five minutes after he'd finished eating, but it would be good practice since he couldn't be certain he'd have time between eating and having to fight in real life. He'd got more rest than Scott had so far, and this would get one more of his spars out of the way with. Except apparently he'd have to wait for his opponent to finish because they were still waiting on two pairs to finish their second spar.

His opponent was Damon, and Cloud would bet that his friend had been as eager to prove himself as Cloud was, so this would be one of the most challenging spars he'd get. On the other hand he couldn't have had much in the way of rest between his spars if he was the last one to join Cloud's group. And Damon would probably make assumptions based on how Cloud had fought _before_ he'd been enhanced, he'd been fairly cautious then, all too aware of how much stronger Damon was. Not that Damon had been taught any more effectively than Cloud had, always the last to get any individual attention, and never as much or as focused as they needed. Cloud used that ruthlessly, attacking and defeating him swiftly, in only fifteen minutes, focusing on the areas he knew Damon had been _strongest_ before on the basis that his weak areas would have been improved and stronger now than the defences he'd learned with Cloud.

"I thought you were crazy attacking where I was strongest, but...I wasn't strongest there was I?" Cloud did wish that Damon hadn't lingered after he'd been told he could have lunch, he wanted to see who else he had to fight.

"Not anymore, but you'd been so used to knowing those were your strong points..." Cloud shrugged and changed the subject. "Go and have lunch now, you only have forty minutes total."

"Sure." Scott got to spar the next one of their group who got back from lunch, Cloud wasn't too sure about his name because he hadn't been trained with Cloud, and Cloud ended up facing Harry when he got back ten minutes later.

"So runt, you think you can live up to your boasts?"

"Let's see." Cloud knew he was grinning; Harry's challenge had stirred up instincts he wasn't sure he'd ever had before Hojo got his hands on him, but now that they were there he was going to use them. The better he did here the faster he'd get good enough to protect his lover and perhaps be allowed to kill the bastard who'd broken him.

Finally he had to face the stranger and it ended up taking the whole hour, and Cloud wasn't quite sure who'd won at the end, or even if there had been a winner. But either way he was free to do whatever he wanted, and he was pretty certain he'd placed highly in this test, so he decided to put in some work on his running.

He only remembered his promise to contact Sephiroth as he went to bed, but curfew was around ten anyway, so he reached out to his lover once he was lying in bed and hoped he didn't fall asleep in the middle of it. Sephiroth was with Zack, but they weren't doing anything; Sephiroth was just lying in Zack's arms, so he opened contact through their link.

_'Sephiroth?'_

_'Yes Cloud? What did you wish? And...how do you think you did today?'_ There was a hesitancy in the last part of Sephiroth's response, and Cloud could 'hear' him telling Zack that Cloud had contacted him.

_'I was just checking in like I promised. I won all my spars except for the last, so I must have scored pretty highly, right?'_

_'Almost certainly. Do you want me to try and find out what sort of marks you got?'_

_'Don't bother.'_ It wasn't worth it and it could raise suspicions. _'Have fun with Zack, and I'll contact you again this time tomorrow.'_ He pulled out of Sephiroth's mind before the General could respond to that and stopped trying to stay awake any longer.

xoXox


	5. Chapter 5

Sephiroth knew trying to brush Zack's hair out properly was an exercise in futility, especially under current circumstances; even if he succeeded in getting it all untangled it would get tangled up again immediately afterwards, when they had sex. But...Zack liked playing with Sephiroth's hair, and when he'd asked to be allowed to 'return the favour' jokingly he'd found that this seemed to work almost as a meditative exercise for him, calming his thoughts in a way running a brush though his own hair didn't. And besides Cloud was due to contact him around now, so it was better that he be doing something that didn't need too much in the way of concentration.

'_Sephiroth?'_ The brush stilled in Zack's hair as his keeper's voice entered his mind, conveying a sense of sleepiness and Zack reached up to touch his hand.

"You stopped; did Spike just speak to you?" He began to brush Zack's hair again almost on autopilot as he responded to Cloud.

'_Yes Cloud? What did you wish? And...how do you think you did today?'_ He wasn't sure it was appropriate for him to question Cloud's performance, but he couldn't seem not to care either, because he _did_ care, a lot. "Yes, Cloud contacted me, but I'll try not to be too distracted." Even though he wanted to let Cloud's voice fill his mind totally, to the exclusion of everything else.

'_I was just checking in like I promised. I won all my spars except for the last, so I must have scored pretty highly, right?'_ Sephiroth wasn't surprised, Cloud _should_ have got into SOLDIER the normal way, and until Cloud informed him that his interview seemed to fit a pattern for Gregori he'd wondered if Cloud's 'failure' had been due to orders from above.

'_Almost certainly. Do you want me to try and find out what sort of marks you got?'_ It would be easy enough for him to do that, the marks were reported to him at the end of the tests anyway, he'd just be asking for them a little early.

'_Don't bother.'_ But he'd make a point of telling Cloud how he'd done once the final results got back to Sephiroth, otherwise all he'd know was which group he'd been sorted into and he was sure Cloud would like to know how well he'd done - Sephiroth couldn't believe his keeper would do _badly_ on anything but the first day of testing. '_Have fun with Zack, and I'll contact you again this time tomorrow.'_ And then he felt Cloud withdrawing from him, leaving him feeling almost abandoned.

"Cloud stopped talking to you?" Zack twisted around in his seat to look up at Sephiroth, showing that startling intuition of his again.

"He told me to have fun with you." Sephiroth had finished brushing Zack's hair while he'd been in contact with Cloud and he'd just been running the brush through untangled hair, so he put it aside. "So...what do you want to do with me?" He was grateful Angeal had decided that _he_ wasn't going to take advantage of Cloud's absence if his keeper didn't want to bed him tonight after Sephiroth had used lunch together to tell his dark haired lovers that they had to stop with the public displays of affection.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Sephiroth loved the teasing note in Zack's voice, this sort of simple _fun_ was something he didn't get with Angeal, or even when he was present, and wouldn't get with Cloud - and it was something he didn't think he'd lose even if Cloud decided to change his mind about letting Zack and Angeal sleep with him. He laughed and put the brush aside to sit on Zack's lap, putting his hands on Zack's shoulders.

"But you _know_ I like to please you." And he pouted slightly, in play, Zack reacted well when he teased his lover that way and it gave him the chance to play in ways he'd never been allowed to before. It was a lot easier to please Zack alone than to please Zack and Angeal together, and easier to please Zack and Angeal together than to please Angeal alone, even if he'd never say that out loud.

"Okay then." Sephiroth knew to go limp when Zack stood, lifting him in his arms - he was too tall for this to be anything but awkward and there wasn't really any way he could help Zack. Zack carried him over to the bed and then laid him down on it carefully, climbing on top of him, and undressing him slowly, stroking his body as he did, so gently that he could tell himself that Zack loved him, at least a little. "Did you _really_ expect Cloud to top that first time with you?" Sephiroth was probably overdue for teasing about that, he couldn't quite believe Zack hadn't said something about it straight after Angeal interrogated him about what he'd done with Cloud.

"Yes..._you_ didn't have any problems taking me our first time together." And Angeal had seemed surprised that Cloud had _wanted_ Sephiroth to take him. Zack laughed at that and rolled off to lie beside Sephiroth, wriggling as he pulled his own clothes off.

"Our first time together Angeal was there, and he made it pretty clear what he expected. Took me a month to get my head around how submissive you act in bed and figure out that you weren't ever going to ask for a chance to top."

"Why would I want to?" Sephiroth shrugged, because the appeal of topping really was lost on him and he didn't think he'd ever understand it. "I like not having to worry about _anything_ while I'm with one of you."

"Just lie back and let me take care of you then." He didn't protest when Zack jokingly pinned him, one leg between Sephiroth's thighs, cock rubbing up against his hip, simply moaned in pleasure, enjoying the way Zack kissed him so eagerly. "I had something a bit different in mind for tonight, so shut your eyes for me, and leave them shut."

"No blindfold?" Angeal would have insisted on one, not entirely trusting Sephiroth to obey and taking the responsibility for obeying away from him, but he liked Zack's trust in his will, and he obeyed even as he tested that trust.

"I don't need one." Sephiroth could hear Zack moving, and he regretted the loss of touch for a moment, but he got it back soon enough, with Zack kissing and petting him with oiled hands almost at random, whispering words of affection and caring to him. Then Zack straddled his hips and reached for Sephiroth's cock, and his eyes flew open when he felt Zack begin to push down around him.

"Zack?" He wasn't as tight as Cloud had been, but tight enough, and so _hot_, and he looked incredible, if he was hurting it didn't show on his face.

"Hush. You don't have to do anything. I just wanted to know if I could do this without it hurting. Angeal's so large there's always a bit of pain, no matter _how_ careful he is, you know?"

"Yes." Sephiroth didn't mind the pain, he'd spent too much time at Hojo's dubious mercy to complain about something so minor, but he did prefer it when Angeal was satisfied with his mouth rather than his ass. "Does this please you?"

"Oh yes. Now just relax." Zack bent down for long enough to kiss Sephiroth, then he began moving as Sephiroth watched him. It felt really good, and Zack only expected him to lie there and let him use his body for their mutual pleasure. Zack came first, arching his back and tossing his head back, eyes still wide open, and then Sephiroth felt his eyes close as _he_ came.

"Stay with me?" Sephiroth didn't want to assume that Zack would, but his lover just laughed as he lay down beside him, wrapping his arms around him.

"I wouldn't do that to you. Leave you alone. You should know that by now." And at that Sephiroth could relax, and fall asleep in Zack's arms.

xoXox

Cloud glanced over the men he'd spent the past two days leading against the monsters they'd been assigned to hunt down, wondering which one was going to be reporting back on his performance. He'd been a bit shocked at the way they'd reacted to him; he'd expected them to be a bit contemptuous of him because he was so young, everyone else in the cadet class had been at least two years older than him, but instead it had seemed to make them respect him more, one of them had been almost in awe of him. It had been sort of funny to see a man older than the General stammer and blush whenever Cloud talked to him, but it had disturbed him, as well as giving him a hint of what Sephiroth had to deal with and he just hoped that it had been some sort of act. If it was an act it had been a good one, since he kept it up throughout the hunt, even if he did manage to pull himself together when it was important.

'_How do you cope with the people who just blush and stutter when they're dealing with you Sephiroth?'_ Sephiroth was alone, so it was safe enough to contact him, and Cloud could clearly remember how he'd reacted to Sephiroth at first, although he didn't think he'd been anywhere near as bad as Weatherby was - well except for just before their first time together.

'_I don't. Not very well. SOLDIERs don't stammer as much, and I keep my interactions to people who do not annoy me that way as much as I can. If they do stammer and blush I make sure not to have personal contact with them, and simply give them orders and make sure my orders are understood. Why?'_ Cloud felt almost embarrassed to tell Sephiroth about how Weatherby had reacted to him, but he'd made this contact to ask about that, so he should follow through on it.

'_One of the regulars assigned to me's been stammering every time he talks to _me_. I don't get it, why would anyone react like that to me?'_

'_I did once or twice, because you were turning me on so much. But...you are the youngest SOLDIER since, well, me. I was only a year younger than you when I was sent to Wutai and people learned about me. Even Zack was sixteen when he passed the SOLDIER Entrance Exam - although some regulars are listed as unsuitable to work with SOLDIERs because they react like that to all SOLDIERs. And since you'll eventually be my equal you should get used to people acting like that around you.'_ Cloud didn't have Sephiroth's presence, he was pretty sure he never would, and the idea that people would react to him the way they did to the General seemed bizarre.

'_Do you think I was deliberately assigned a regular who reacts that way to all SOLDIERs? Or could he have been ordered to pretend to that sort of reaction?'_ Which Cloud found a lot more plausible than that Weatherby really was so impressed by _him_, especially considering how bad his reactions were.

'_I can't be certain, although I could check easily enough when I get the reports on this test. I ask for more detailed information when I feel I have time to inspect it, and sometimes when I don't, so it wouldn't be suspicious after all.'_ Sephiroth paused then, but Cloud could tell he had something else to add and simply waited, conveying a sense of expectancy. '_Do you want me tonight?'_ The hope and hunger was clearly conveyed, even if Sephiroth didn't explicitly state them, and Cloud couldn't bring himself to refuse Sephiroth; he didn't think he'd have been able to even if _he_ didn't want to be able to touch his lover so desperately.

'_Yes. Did you have anything else planned?'_ He hoped he wouldn't be disrupting Zack's plans, although he didn't care as much about Angeal's...he wasn't entirely happy with Angeal's attitude towards him, while Zack had seemed far more content to accept Cloud's primacy in Sephiroth's life.

'_No. I told Angeal and Zack that you'd probably want me tonight. I...hoped you'd want me, you will have time, but...I understand that usually after tests a group that's tested together tends to go out to celebrate as a group.'_ And Sephiroth was feeling insecure, even if Cloud would never leave him or abandon him.

'_I don't care. I'll tell them I've already made other plans_ if _I'm invited out. Expect me around seven, you should eat first.'_

'_Yes Cloud. Thank you.'_ The words had been unnecessary; Cloud could feel Sephiroth's gratitude as he broke contact with him, turning his attention back to his men. Either they hadn't noticed his distraction, or they hadn't thought it was important, because they were still busy marking out the landing zone for the helicopter that would be picking them up shortly. He would have helped do that himself, except Zack had taken him aside before they set out yesterday, and told him _not_ to do any of the more menial tasks himself, because it was bad for discipline. So when it came to things like setting camp up he'd just given orders and let his men do the work - although he'd had to quell a minor mutiny when they realised he hadn't requisitioned tents.

"_Are you really trying to tell me that an unenhanced seven year old_ kid _is that much tougher than you trained experienced soldiers are? I'm disappointed."_ Explaining that he'd camped out with less gear than he'd requisitioned, in the Nibel mountains when he was seven had been enough to shame them into doing as they were told and not complaining. Once they'd finished laying out the LZ his men came to stand beside him, with their gear, what they hadn't needed to mark out the landing zone and all they could do was wait. Cloud ignored what they were saying, since it wasn't really relevant, he'd intervene if they said something stupid, not before.

His group had been the last dropped off for their hunt, and it was the first one picked up as well; Cloud made a point of being the last one on the helicopter, and checking to make sure nothing had been left himself then he sat alone, waiting for the other SOLDIERs 3rd class to be picked up. They'd been segregated like that on the way out as well, with the SOLDIERs sitting apart from the regulars, and he spent the time trying to figure out which of his men had been assessing him. If it was Weatherby he'd made a good choice of how to keep Cloud from suspecting him, and an effective way to assess Cloud further, but Cloud had tried to avoid working too much with him because of that. It didn't really matter he supposed, he'd have treated his men the same even if he wasn't being assessed after all, and he was sure the others being assessed hadn't known _how_ they were assessed on this.

"So, anyone spot the guy assessing them among the men?" Perhaps he'd been wrong. Warren had waited until everyone was on the helicopter before bringing it up, but the others looked surprised.

"How did you know about that? And did anyone else have to deal with someone who kept on blushing and stammering around them?"

"If you can find a contact willing to tell you these things they figure you've got a right to know." That explained why Warren had been the only other SOLDIER who hadn't had a problem requisitioning gear, he must have already had it planned; Cloud had used some of the theoretical training he'd got in the lab to order 'standard' equipment for something like this, except without the usual tent. "One of your men reacted to you like you were the General?" The rest seemed just as surprised as Cloud had been.

"Yeah. Except I wonder if he was the guy assessing me, adding an extra little test of his own because I'm so young. It doesn't matter; if I want to know my contact can probably tell me who was assessing me later."

"Someone involved in the testing then. Mine's one of my room mates; we get told what methods are used to assess us afterwards." Cloud and Warren spent the rest of the trip answering questions about how they were assessed.

xoXox

Sephiroth glanced over his bedroom one last time, checking that he had everything he needed; oil to make it easier for Cloud to take him, scarves in case Cloud wanted to tie him up, more oil so that he could give Cloud a massage if he was permitted to, and the chest of toys in case Cloud had any interest in those. He didn't _think_ Cloud would want to try anything too exotic yet, but he wasn't going to be caught unprepared to serve his keeper's pleasure in whatever way he wished. He just hoped he didn't say something stupid again and have to argue with his keeper; it was harder to force himself to protest than he'd expected, he'd only managed last time because _not_ protesting would have hurt Cloud more in the long run.

He could hear Cloud entering his quarters - was he early, or had Sephiroth lost track of the time? Not that it mattered and Sephiroth walked through to greet his keeper.

"That was a good idea; keeping me away from temptation like that." Sephiroth didn't have a chance to reply, because then Cloud pulled him into an embrace, tangling a hand in his hair and pulling his head down to kiss him deeply. "Did you have any ideas for tonight?"

"If it pleases you I could give you a massage." Sephiroth couldn't quite believe that Cloud was allowing him to suggest what they did together, even _Zack_ didn't allow him that much freedom of choice - the most he'd get with Zack was choosing between two or three of _his_ ideas. But it was nice that his keeper considered his desires important enough to ask about, even if there was a chance they might be denied.

"That sounds really nice. Through here?" Cloud had either forgotten to take his hand from Sephiroth's hair, or...decided to use his hold to emphasise his control over Sephiroth, and he didn't know which explanation he'd have preferred for the way Cloud led him to the bedroom door by the grip on his hair. Both options told him that Cloud was comfortable in his control over him, at least to some extent and he hoped that comfort would grow and deepen without the hint of guilt that marred their last time together.

"Yes Cloud." Angeal and Zack both liked to use his hair as a leash, so Sephiroth had plenty of experience in how to keep Cloud from pulling on his hair too much as he followed him.

"What did you have the scarves out for?"

"In case you wanted to tie me up tonight. If you'll let go, get undressed and lie on the bed face down I can start giving you your massage." That was a bit too much like an order for Sephiroth's tastes, but he comforted himself with the thought that it was more like the 'orders' the tailors who made his uniforms gave him at the fittings than anything else.

"Let go?" Cloud _looked_ at Sephiroth before he removed his hand from his hair, blushing faintly, and Sephiroth lowered his eyes to avoid seeing Cloud's embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

"Please, don't be. I...liked it."

"I'll remember that then." Cloud sounded amused, giving Sephiroth the confidence to glance up and watch as he casually stripped and lay down so Sephiroth could tend to him. He'd left the bottle of oil for this in a bowl of warm water to make sure it wouldn't be cold when he poured it onto Cloud's skin, and he did wish that he'd had _any_ practice at all in doing this. He didn't want to hurt or disappoint Cloud, but he knew how much better he felt after Zack gave _him_ a massage and he should manage well enough as long as he paid full attention to him.

Sephiroth knelt beside Cloud and poured some oil onto his back, stroking it over the skin with firm motions to start with. He knew how relaxing that could be, even if he was a bit more cautious than Zack, since Cloud was only 3rd class at the moment and he was a lot stronger than Zack was anyway. Focusing on the smooth pale skin underneath his hands Sephiroth was startled to realise he could actually _see_ where the muscles were knotted up in ways that had to be hurting; he'd never realised just how good his sight was, but Zack always talked about feeling for tense areas, never seeing them. He hesitated, then decided to start with the knot at the small of Cloud's back, working on it until Cloud gave a moan of pleasure and he could see the muscle relaxing; then he moved on to the other muscles.

Once he was sure he'd worked all the stress and tension out of Cloud's body Sephiroth sat back on his heels, watching Cloud and waiting for him to tell him what they'd be doing now. Cloud didn't move at first, then he rolled over slowly, a sleepy smile on his face.

"That was wonderful. Thank you. Now come and lie down beside me." This wasn't going anything like Sephiroth had expected, or like last time for that matter, but he should get past assuming Cloud would be anything like Angeal and Zack were with him. He obeyed and relaxed as Cloud began running his hands over his body, undressing him and kissing him, and Sephiroth returned the kisses and caresses, remembering that his keeper didn't like it when Sephiroth was passive with him. Still, he couldn't bring himself to touch Cloud below the waist without an explicit instruction to do so, and he knew he was being more hesitant than Cloud would probably prefer.

"Lie back now." There was laughter in Cloud's voice as he pulled away, but Sephiroth could feel the pleasure and approval his lover was sending through their link and he obeyed without hesitation, watching as Cloud came to kneel between his spread legs.

xoXox

Cloud couldn't quite believe how much better Sephiroth had made him feel, he hadn't realised how much tension had built up during the last five days, or how much he'd been aching until he wasn't anymore. And his...mate, he could admit to thinking of Sephiroth as that despite the animalistic implications, had responded to his touches, even if he was still more hesitant than Cloud would prefer. But then...there was something almost intoxicating in Sephiroth's ready submission to him, and Cloud knew that he didn't want to lose that as he knelt between Sephiroth's legs.

He wasn't sure about how to do what he'd planned, but he _knew_ he could go through with it as he looked at Sephiroth's prick; he'd been thinking about it since he'd questioned Sephiroth through their link while Sephiroth had done that for him and he wanted to make his lover feel as good as he had then. He braced one hand on Sephiroth's hip, and leaned forward to lick at the head lightly, working himself up to actually wrapping his mouth around it. Cloud didn't take more than the head into his mouth; he wasn't going to risk screwing up if he tried to take it too deep and he played with Sephiroth's balls with his free hand as well as stroking him where he could. He shut his eyes to focus better on what he was doing, on the taste of Sephiroth in his mouth, and the feel of him under his hands and when Sephiroth climaxed it came as a surprise. He managed to swallow a bit, but he didn't really like the taste and he felt a bit guilty as he pulled back to let the rest splash onto his face.

"Y-you...swallowed?" There was soft astonishment on Sephiroth's face as Cloud looked up at him, and something disturbingly like awe, even though the seed spattered over his face should have told him that he _hadn't_ managed to swallow much of it.

"I tried." Cloud gave a little grimace, remembering the way Sephiroth swallowed everything when he did this. "It didn't taste very good: I couldn't stand to swallow too much. I'm sorry."

"I...don't be, please." There was a hint of fear in Sephiroth's eyes as well and Cloud projected a sense of inquiry across the link. "It's enough that you were willing to try, more than enough." But Sephiroth was, consciously or otherwise, bringing a memory to Cloud's attention as he spoke.

"_I'm sorry to have been so rough with you, it wasn't intentional, but I felt almost as if I was adjusting to another Mako dose."_ And in Sephiroth's memory he'd wondered if that was because Angeal _had_ swallowed when he pleasured him before their first time.

"So...are you saying you've only had this once before?" Cloud moved to lie beside Sephiroth as he spoke, petting his hair gently.

"Only once to climax. Zack was only 2nd class when he joined us; Angeal didn't want to risk him reacting badly." Cloud refused to let Sephiroth know how much that angered him, the way Sephiroth had been denied on such a flimsy pretext; his lover would probably assume Cloud was angry at _him_ after all.

"I won't swallow again, but there's no reason I can't just spit it out or pull back just before you climax."

"You don't...find it...degrading then? To have your face covered with my seed?" Cloud probed through their link, there was something odd about the way Sephiroth had asked that question..._he_ didn't think it was degrading to have his lover's seed on his face, or anywhere else, but Angeal did feel that way, and Zack indulged Angeal's tastes.

"No. I don't." Cloud laughed and rolled them over so that Sephiroth was on top, ignoring the look of shock on his face at that. "Now, why don't you lick my face clean?" He smiled up at his mate, waiting to see how he reacted to that, ready to pass it off as a joke if he had to.

But Sephiroth smiled at the idea and immediately leaned down to obey, using small darting movements of his tongue to start before moving on to broader, laving strokes. Then when he'd finished he rolled the two of them over, putting Cloud back on top and opening his legs, closing his eyes and offering his throat in unspoken submission and invitation. An invitation Cloud was only too pleased to accept, kissing Sephiroth's neck and sliding his hands down between their bodies to grip Sephiroth's cock, stroking him back to full hardness.

"Please, let me do something to please you. Whatever you want, you know I'm yours." Sephiroth's voice was hoarse with the arousal Cloud could feel through their link, and he only realised then that he'd kept it open to an extent, but he wasn't sure how open he'd left it; not enough to 'hear' words, enough for him to feel emotions, but perhaps not enough for Sephiroth to feel what he felt.

"In _every_ way. Yes, I know, and I _love_ it, almost as much as I love _you_." He leaned down, kissing Sephiroth, wrapping his long silver hair in the hand he'd been using to support himself, and switching his weight to his other hand, keeping up the stimulation at Sephiroth's groin by pressing his thigh against it. Meanwhile he began fiddling with their link, trying to adjust it so that he could still feel Sephiroth's emotions and a degree of the physical sensations without searching for them, and Sephiroth could feel the same from him without Cloud having to consciously 'send' them to him.

xoXox

Sephiroth was moaning into Cloud's mouth, hands resting on his back as the blond pinned him to the mattress with his body weight, controlling his head with a hand in his hair when he felt it. His eyes flew open as the physical sensations he was feeling seemed to double, feeling his hair in one hand as well as Cloud's smooth skin beneath both hands, his dick pressed up against Cloud's thigh, and against his own hip, from both sides, and the feeling of dominating a kiss that was so foreign to him as well as the more familiar feeling of submitting, letting Cloud take his mouth along with everything else.

"Cloud?" He pushed his keeper away, feeling a bit of panic, only for Cloud's sense of satisfaction and possessive desire to sooth his uncertain emotions.

"I wanted you to feel what I was feeling, the way I can feel what you're feeling. Just relax and enjoy it."

"I..." Sephiroth _wanted_ to lie back and obey, but he tried to fight the urge to submit so he could explain what he was feeling to Cloud, since surely his keeper wasn't feeling the same things he was, and what he was feeling scared him a bit.

"What is it?" Cloud's concern warmed him, and Sephiroth could feel the faint ache in Cloud's arms as he kept on holding himself over Sephiroth instead of moving down to continue what he'd been doing. And that was the problem.

"Can you adjust the link so I'm just getting emotions, not the total physical sensations? It...bothers me." It did more than bother him, but Sephiroth _couldn't_ phrase it any more strongly, he already felt as if he was pushing things by objecting to what Cloud was doing and asking him to change it.

"I'm sorry." He really was, the emotions Sephiroth could feel through their link made that clear; a hint of guilt, disappointment, directed at himself and other things as well, all supporting his words. "That was what I _meant_ to do, or at least keep it down to only the strongest physical sensations. Can you tell the difference between what I'm feeling and what you're feeling?"

"No. I can't." And Sephiroth couldn't quite believe that Cloud had apologised to him; _no one_ with power over him had ever done that before.

"Then tell me when you can. I want you to still feel my emotions at the very least." And he felt the connection to Cloud changing and modulating, the sensations that came through the link shifting from the physical overpowering everything else, to the physical as just a minor component in the strong emotional currents.

"I...that's it. Thank you Cloud." For listening to him, for caring about his concerns and being worried about him, for not just telling him to accept whatever Cloud decided to give him and for adjusting what he was doing to take Sephiroth's concerns into account.

"No, thank _you_. For helping me get this right, and for having the courage to tell me that it wasn't right before. Now, where were we?" It was clearly a rhetorical question, because Cloud returned to kissing him and dominating the kiss easily. Sephiroth could feel Cloud's love and desire for him, even when he broke the kiss, leaving Sephiroth panting with arousal as he grabbed the oil to prepare him.

"On your hands and knees." Sephiroth obeyed, sharing Cloud's amusement when he slapped his ass lightly before he began stretching Sephiroth, reaching underneath his body to play with his nipples and stroke him, keeping him hard. They hadn't actually done it this way before, it was more something he did with Angeal, because he needed every little bit of help he could get to take that cock, but that didn't make it any less of a turn on. And with Cloud in his mind he never had any reason to feel uncomfortable about not being able to see the man he was giving himself to, the man he loved more than anyone or anything else.

Cloud brushed Sephiroth's hair away from his body and kissed a line up his spine, eventually settling for kissing his shoulder blades as he took him, and reached around to stroke him as well, bringing him to climax shortly before Cloud did.

"Do you mind if I stay here for the night? I've got tomorrow off, probably while they work out how well we did on that last test and decide how they're going to split us up and I know you like sleeping in the same bed as me." Sephiroth wondered why Cloud had asked aloud when he could still feel how much Cloud wanted him to agree through their link, and then when Cloud answered him he realised how strongly he must have been projecting that. "I want your answer to be what you want, and I have a feeling that if I asked you through our link you'd hear it more as an order than a question."

"Yes, you're right, I would. But I do want you to stay here with me, please." Sephiroth clutched at Cloud as he felt their link closing down, returning to what seemed to be its default state, scared that it meant Cloud was rejecting what he was saying.

"Then I will." Cloud smiled at him, reaching up to stroke his face gently. "Do you have some fresh sheets here so we can change these? I don't mind sleeping on them if you don't, but if you do have fresh sheets we might as well use them."

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any fresh sheets. But we could shower together so I can wake you with something nice tomorrow?" Sephiroth would like waking Cloud that way, but not unless he was clean...it would be different if it was in the middle of one of the dominance games Angeal liked so much.

"Sounds good." And once they were in the shower Cloud pressed Sephiroth up against the wall, jerking them both off while he kissed and bit at Sephiroth's throat, reminding him just who was in charge, even though he didn't need to. Then Cloud lay half on top of him when they went to bed, something Sephiroth was familiar with from the week they'd spent getting to know each other better before Cloud fully claimed him, and something he enjoyed.

xoXox


	6. Chapter 6

When he had time to, if he hadn't set an alarm or been woken up by something or someone, Cloud tended to wake up slowly. So he wasn't that surprised when he slowly came back to awareness in the warmth of Sephiroth's arms and bed, but he wanted to protest when he felt his mate pulling away from him just a bit. But when he felt Sephiroth's mouth close, warm and wet, around him it startled him into waking fully and his hands fell to rest on Sephiroth's head gently.

"Oh, that's good. Don't stop." He caressed Sephiroth's hair and opened their link enough to send what he was feeling along to his mate.

'_You don't need to do that; I'm more than content to simply please you, my own pleasure has always been secondary for me.'_ Cloud didn't like what that implied, and he hadn't expected Sephiroth to be able to use their link to communicate with him at the moment, but he was happy to return an answer in a form Sephiroth couldn't doubt or misunderstand.

'_But _I _want you to enjoy this as well, it would please me if you did.'_

'_Yes Cloud'_ There was a mix of surprise, gratification and oddly enough resentment as Sephiroth set to work pleasing Cloud in earnest. Cloud wasn't going to pursue that discordant note, not yet, instead he gave himself up to the pleasure Sephiroth offered him, feeling it and sharing it with his mate, whether or not he wanted to share it. _This_ was what their link was for in his opinion, sharing pleasure and communicating when they couldn't vocally. And he could almost taste his mate's pleasure in his task, external of the pleasure Cloud shared with him, as well as his focus on _Cloud's_ pleasure and satisfaction and his insistence on using the pleasure Cloud shared as a guide to pleasing him better.

His seed seemed to taste better to Sephiroth than Sephiroth's had to him, from what he could feel through their link and Cloud wondered if that was a difference in their seed or their taste buds or just their individual preferences. Whatever it was he put it from his mind, closing down their link, and pulled Sephiroth up to kiss him, rolling them so he lay on top of his lover, and letting one hand wander down to his groin, where he found that the link had worked to let his mate share his climax.

"Here, lick my hand clean." Cloud pulled away enough to hold his hand in front of Sephiroth's face, despite his own reluctance to stop kissing him. Sephiroth obeyed with a small smile, eyes half closed contentedly, looking a lot like a cat licking cream, so much that Cloud couldn't resist the temptation to scratch behind his ears to see if he'd purr. He didn't but he seemed to enjoy it enough that Cloud didn't stop after his hand was clean.

"Do you really like that taste?"

"Yes. It's not as good as your seed, but it isn't bad." So it was a difference in their tastes, not in _how_ they tasted.

"Good. I think that's really hot. Do we have time to just lie here for a bit, or do you have to leave soon?"

"I have to leave soon, I'm sorry." Sephiroth looked unhappy at that, and glanced away from Cloud's face, casting his eyes down.

"Don't be." Cloud took hold of Sephiroth's chin and made his mate look at him. "It's not your fault, and at least I had the chance to wake up with you still here and see you before you left."

"That's why I decided to wake you up." Cloud wasn't going to tell Sephiroth that he'd already been waking up when he took him into his mouth, but he kissed Sephiroth again, running his hand down his body.

"And it was a _very_ good idea. Should we shower together before you have to go?"

"Please. That sounds good." Sephiroth nuzzled against Cloud for a moment before pulling back to stand up. "Or if you'd rather you could just stay here for a while and go back to sleep." Cloud laughed at that and got up to stand beside Sephiroth, leading him to the bathroom.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Someone's probably coming to take care of the sheets today and I don't want to be caught in your bed; not until I hit SOLDIER 1st class as a minimum." Since it was pretty common knowledge that Sephiroth was involved with Zack and Angeal and he'd been fairly open about it Cloud thought he'd be able to get away with publicly being involved with 'the General' as a SOLDIER 1st class. "Besides, sharing a shower with you's the perfect excuse to put my hands all over your beautiful body."

"If that is what you wish. Just give me a moment..." Cloud watched as Sephiroth quickly braided his hair and fastened it up with a sort of loopy bun.

"You look good with your hair just braided, good and different enough that you might not be recognised as easily if you wore something other than your uniform." Cloud turned the shower on as he spoke, and stepped into it, inviting Sephiroth to follow with his body language alone.

"I hadn't thought about that, but I don't have much in the way of clothes other than my uniform." Sephiroth stepped in then and waited for Cloud to touch him before he said anything else. "Why did you shut down our link after we'd climaxed?"

"Because I don't like using it for casual conversation when we're in the same room. It should be kept for times and things we can't communicate without it, and sometimes for emphasis and to avoid misunderstanding. But...why were you unhappy that I shared my pleasure with you?"

"I...when I do that I always feel it's one of the things that shows my love most out of all the sexual things I can do, precisely because there's no _physical_ pleasure in it for me, and so..."

"Sephiroth? I know you love me, and I like knowing that you feel the same pleasure I do in what we do. And your pleasure is _never_ 'secondary' to me."

"Yes Cloud." They didn't say anything else until Sephiroth had to leave.

xoXox

Sephiroth hoped his pleasure didn't show as he made his way to the mess hall for breakfast, because that would raise far too many questions, especially since Zack and Angeal weren't walking with him. They didn't join him when he ate either, not that he had any reason to expect them to; he habitually started working half an hour before anyone else did, which let him get through almost half any correspondence he'd received overnight before he had to deal with anyone.

The final results from testing the new SOLDIERs 3rd class wouldn't be delivered until just after lunch, to allow the examiners to take the reports on the last two days into consideration, but Sephiroth had already received the results of the first three tests. _And_ a suggested split of the class had already been made based on those results, since the final test was prone to being affected by personal bias on the part of whoever was reporting, although not as much as the interviews in the SOLDIER Entrance Exams had proven to be. The number of monsters killed on the outing, and how each SOLDIER _reported_ on the mission were also taken into account - Sephiroth wished for a moment that he could contact Cloud and ask about that, but it wasn't an option. He _would_ ask for full details on this set of tests, including copies of the reports written by the SOLDIERs 3rd class taking them and if he needed an excuse the fact that Cloud was Hojo's current 'pet project' would do nicely.

It wasn't exactly surprising that Cloud had scored top for the swordwork testing, or that he came in third when it came to tactics considering how much extra emphasis must have been placed on those two aspects of his training, and that was enough to counter his abysmal scores from the first day. Still, he was recorded as one of the lowest ranked for the upper group, and a bad report on the monster hunting could easily send him down to the lower group, especially if it was combined with exceptionally good reports for members of that group. But there was nothing Sephiroth could do about it, and he didn't think he would even if he _could_, not unless Cloud had ordered him to, which his lover had too much in the way of ethics to do to him.

He put the papers aside when his secretary arrived and tried to put the issue from his mind as well; even if Cloud did end up in the lower group he could be moved to a higher group when his skills merited it, and he wouldn't put it past his superiors to make sure Cloud got every break he could. So he focused on his more routine paperwork, distracting himself until it was time to go and meet Zack and Angeal for lunch.

"So, will your master be wanting you again tonight?" Sephiroth forced himself to treat Angeal's question as teasing, not as anything else, and smiled at his oldest lover.

"He didn't say, but I'd still like to keep tonight open for him. By the way, did either of you two ever think about ways I could try to avoid the attention I always get whenever I'm seen by civilians?" He wouldn't blame them if they hadn't; Sephiroth had always done his best to conceal how much that annoyed and disturbed him, but they might have something they could add to Cloud's suggestions.

"Yeah, except with how pale your hair is I'm not sure how 'temporary' those wash in wash out dyes I've used to play jokes on people would be. You'd need tinted glasses to hide your eyes, and under the Plate that would mark you as a SOLDIER, but at least people wouldn't know exactly who you were."

"I see you put some thought into the issue Zack." Sephiroth hesitated, then decided it was better to change the subject. "Have you had a chance to talk to any of the men on the lists I gave you, either of you?"

"I've started with the guys Gregori failed on interview, the ones who went on to become SOLDIERs later. I'd say about three quarters of the ones I talked to so far got a full interview, the rest only got to answer two questions before he dismissed them. Actually one of Cloud's room mates, Geran, approached _me_ not the other way around and about half the guys who didn't get a fair interview would be willing to testify. I didn't think there was any point asking people who he'd treated right."

"No, probably not. If we can point to enough people who have legitimate complaints it won't _matter_ how many people he can claim to have treated right."

"No it won't." Sephiroth smiled at Angeal's almost angry response, appreciating his fierce loyalty and the hatred of Gregori they shared.

xoXox

Cloud was one hell of a lot more tired than he'd have liked after running the same type of courses he'd faced during the first day of testing one after another for only the morning of his day off, but there was no point in him trying to do any more training on this when he was so tired. He'd go shopping quickly, replacing his bottle of aspirins, since his _last_ bottle only contained six of the seven pills Sephiroth had given him by now, and perhaps find somewhere to eat lunch, hopefully something a bit better than ShinRa served if he could find it for a reasonable price. Then he'd either look for someone to spar with him or go hunting for some local monsters to earn a bit of extra cash.

Geran and Daniel had told him that it was fairly common for SOLDIERs of all classes to earn extra cash that way, since ShinRa tended to be a bit...cautious in issuing materia to anyone who didn't have some sort of connection. Cloud probably _had_ at least one connection that would help, possibly two if he dared try and use Hojo's interest in him, but he wasn't sure he liked the idea of using his connections like that.

Besides fighting monsters also helped mature their materia, making it more useful in the future, as well as giving Cloud experience he could probably use. And...he could afford an unlevelled elemental materia, Lightning sounded good, and he'd been _issued_ with a bracer equipped with two unlinked slots - he'd _used_ it during the last two days of tests to help mature his Restore.

He should probably contact Sephiroth as well; they hadn't made any arrangements for tonight, and Cloud wanted to be with him again so he should make sure his mate didn't try to make other plans. And he was with Zack and Angeal at the moment, finishing off their lunch.

'_Sephiroth? I should have said this earlier, but I'm going to want you tonight.'_ Cloud liked the pleasure that seemed to give Sephiroth, the hint of satisfaction coming across their bond.

'_I thought..._hoped _you would Cloud. Do you want me to arrange something for us to eat together?'_

'_No, but thank you for the offer.'_ If they ate together in Sephiroth's quarters it would have to be something cold, since they didn't dare risk being seen together.

'_You're more than welcome. Might I ask you something about the last test?'_

'_Go ahead.'_ Cloud wasn't sure what Sephiroth was going to ask that he wouldn't already know, but he'd answer his lover if he could.

'_When you wrote your report how did you describe the performance of your men when it came to killing monsters?'_

'_For each man I reported how many kills he was involved in, splitting them up by what sort of involvement; peripheral, significant or decisive for the kills I saw anyway. I only mentioned that he participated in a kill if I didn't see it. And I reported the total number of monsters killed as well.'_ Cloud didn't see why the question mattered, but if Sephiroth wanted to know he wasn't going to refuse him.

'_If you wrote well it should help in the final decision about which group you work with. At the moment you're in the upper group, but you're in the bottom three.'_

'_Thank you for the information. I'm trying to work on one of my deficiencies today. I'll see you tonight.'_ Cloud felt a little guilty about not giving his mate a chance to say anything else, but he really hadn't wanted to know what Sephiroth just told him. He checked how much money he had in cash at the moment, then, since he'd be getting more aspirin anyway, he made a quick inspection of his personal first aid kit, comparing it to the one he'd had issued for his little hunt. There were some things he'd never thought about putting in his first aid kit that he probably _should_ have and he made a list of what he needed, counting his money as well and hoping he'd have enough for everything he wanted.

He ate first, wishing Sephiroth could eat with him instead of with Angeal and Zack, or at least that the four of them could eat together, then he went looking for the medical supplies he needed. He didn't find everything he'd wanted, but what he did find took up most of his available cash, so he'd need to get some more money out for his next leave day and do his hunting _then_. At least he could check out the prices for materia today, and he went exploring to find the shops that sold them. Once he got back to base he went looking for a sparring partner, and spent most of the afternoon doing something _fun_.

xoXox

Sephiroth hadn't bothered putting the scarves out tonight; if Cloud wanted them he'd tell him, and Sephiroth probably shouldn't try to anticipate his lover's wishes until he knew his tastes a bit better. But he'd lit candles and left the lights off because he was starting to get a slight headache and candlelight was _far_ easier on the eyes; Cloud's eyesight should be good enough to handle it even as a SOLDIER 3rd class, or at least Sephiroth _thought_ it would be. And according to Zack candlelight was 'romantic', even if Sephiroth wasn't sure why.

"Is there something wrong Sephiroth?" He didn't like the worry in Cloud's voice, and he felt guilty for causing it, so he hurried to reassure him.

"No Cloud, not really. I've got a slight headache, but it won't...interfere with anything. I don't want it to."

"Do you know why you've got a headache?" Cloud stepped closer to Sephiroth, wrapping one arm around his waist and reaching up to lay the other hand on his cheek.

"Not really. I just get them sometimes and this one isn't bad."

"But bad enough you feel the need to have candles instead of the electric lighting? How often does this happen?" Sephiroth could hear Cloud's voice hardening, but he didn't understand _why_; he'd been trained to function even when he was in pain simply because there were so few drugs that worked normally on him. Still, he tried to work out the answer to the question, and searched his mind for any common factor to the headaches.

"Not often, and never when I'm in the field...perhaps three headaches like this every two months? I...there really isn't any connection between the times I have headaches; it's not as if I can point to times when I have to deal more with the ShinRa execs than usual, or anything like that. I work as much with hard copy as with the computer, so it can't be that." Sephiroth shook his head and pulled away from Cloud reluctantly. "It doesn't matter. _Please_, I'd rather not talk about it, my headaches aren't bad enough to justify taking one of my painkillers so they don't matter."

"They _do_ matter...but I'm obviously not going to get you to believe that at the moment. So, tell me, what did you want to move on to?" Sephiroth couldn't help but wish that Cloud _hadn't_ let him go when he pulled away, but he didn't say anything, sitting down instead and pulling out the box of chocolates he'd asked Zack to get for him.

"I...apparently the report on that last test would have put you into the upper group even if you'd been in the lower group before it. Did you want me to find out who was assessing you?" He'd already sent the request for more details; it would have looked suspicious to anyone who knew anything about his relationship with Cloud if he hadn't.

"Not really...just tell me if it was Weatherby...I really hope it was. Now, what's that you're holding?"

"I thought...it's always fun when Angeal and Zack feed me, so...we could feed these to each other?"

"Mmmm...sounds good." Cloud took the box of chocolates from him and opened it as he came to sit straddling Sephiroth's lap. "So, which type do you prefer?"

"Whichever you choose to give me." Professor Gast had given him sweets sometimes before he was killed, then Hojo had used chocolates as very rare rewards until he was ten, but Sephiroth hadn't had chocolate often enough to have any real preferences. It didn't seem worth the effort of arranging to get chocolates most of the time, but he'd wanted to have _something_ to celebrate Cloud's success with, or as consolation for his failure, although he hadn't thought the second possibility very likely.

"C'mon, you've got to like some types of chocolate better than others." Cloud wasn't going to let it go, and Sephiroth hoped he was giving the right answer.

"I...darker chocolate, milk and white chocolate tend to be a bit sweet." Zack and Angeal both preferred the sweeter milk chocolate, and Zack liked white chocolate best of all.

"Do you have any problem eating chocolate with nuts in?" There was a faintly hopeful tone to his voice as Cloud opened the box, and Sephiroth was pretty sure he knew what the right answer was.

"No, why, do you?" Cloud put a chocolate covered nut into Sephiroth's mouth as he finished speaking.

"A bit. They're fine by themselves, or in just about anything else, but I don't like nuts in chocolate, don't ask me why." Sephiroth's mouth was too full for him to say anything, but he nuzzled against the wrist of the hand Cloud had left on his shoulder, purring slightly, and reached for the box of chocolates in Cloud's other hand, grabbing a milk chocolate truffle and offering it to Cloud with a hopeful smile. Cloud laughed at that and leaned forward to take the chocolate from his fingers, nibbling carefully at the truffle until he'd broken through the chocolate 'shell', and then sliding his tongue in to lick the truffle out, before finally taking Sephiroth's fingers into his mouth as he ate the last bit of the sweet. Sephiroth couldn't quite believe how _sensual_ Cloud had managed to make his simple actions.

xoXox

Cloud resisted the urge to giggle as he felt Sephiroth growing hard against him because of the way he'd eaten that truffle, instead caressing his mate's face as he pulled his hand back from his shoulder.

"Enjoying this are you?" He wriggled in Sephiroth's lap, a grin on his face.

"You've got a talented tongue and you just showed _how_ talented." Immediately he averted his eyes from Cloud's face, looking almost ashamed of his words. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't apologise. It was a compliment." Cloud liked it that his mate thought he was good with his mouth, but the thing with how he'd licked the truffle part out of the chocolate first hadn't been _meant_ to be seductive, even if he liked the effect it had on Sephiroth, it was just how he liked to eat chocolates sometimes. He glanced through the box of chocolates still in his hand and picked out a dark truffle, popping it into his mouth, and then leaning forward to kiss Sephiroth once it had started to melt in his mouth, pushing the half melted chocolate from his own mouth to his mate's.

Sephiroth made a muffled sound of pleasure at that, and slid one hand to Cloud's hip, with the other hand slipping between their bodies to press against his groin and stroke him gently. Cloud's response was to lean forward and lick carefully at the base of Sephiroth's throat while he reached under that long coat to unfasten his harness after putting the box of chocolates down. Removing Sephiroth's belts was as far as he could go towards undressing him under the circumstances, and it really wasn't enough.

"Let's move this to the bedroom."

"Yes Cloud." Sephiroth let Cloud pull him to his feet as he grabbed the box of chocolates and followed him through to the bedroom.

"Just put that on the bed." Once the chocolates were out of the way Cloud attacked Sephiroth's clothes, pulling them off him just slowly enough not to tear them. "You may undress me if you want." Then he remembered the slow teasing techniques his mate seemed to have been trained to use for that. "But use your hands, and don't tease; we'll be doing enough of that once we're both naked."

"As you wish Cloud." He didn't sound entirely happy about that, but he obeyed, stripping Cloud quickly and efficiently.

"Thank you. I like the way you normally undress me, don't get me wrong, but I just don't have the patience for it today." He didn't entirely like how much reassurance Sephiroth needed at times, but he didn't think he'd be able to change that, not easily, and he didn't have a problem with making his mate feel better, he just didn't think it was healthy for Sephiroth to need so much validation from him.

Sephiroth smiled at him then, and lay down on the bed, waiting for Cloud to do whatever he wanted. Cloud glanced through the box of chocolates, picking out one with chopped almonds in it to pop into Sephiroth's mouth while he played with some other chocolates. There were two that had orange and strawberry flavoured creams inside them, and he broke them open to smear the pink strawberry cream over Sephiroth's left nipple and the orange cream over his right nipple, licking his fingers clean before leaning down to start licking the cream from Sephiroth's chest.

Sephiroth moaned in pleasure as Cloud teased his nipples with tongue and teeth, a sound he loved hearing, but he pulled back a bit and popped the last chocolate with nuts into his mate's open mouth. There were two chocolates left; a mint fondant he crushed at the base of Sephiroth's throat and smeared upwards and a cappuccino truffle he put into his mouth and held there as it melted. It looked like Sephiroth had finished the chocolate in his mouth, so Cloud leaned down to kiss him again, and shared the cappuccino truffle with him, splitting it between their mouths.

Sephiroth returned the kiss at last, reaching up to hold him in place as Sephiroth's tongue explored Cloud's mouth, sharing the taste of the cappuccino with him. And he made a tiny sound of protest when Cloud pulled back, shifting to a sound of pleasure when Cloud began licking the sweetness from his throat.

"Pl-please." He tilted his head back, exposing his throat even more, and Cloud _knew_ what he was asking for. He laughed and set his teeth at the base of Sephiroth's throat, somewhere that no important veins or arteries would be at risk, and bit down until he tasted blood, then he returned to licking the mint fondant from Sephiroth's skin, enjoying how it tasted mixed with his blood. And now, at last Cloud slid a leg between Sephiroth's, pressing against his groin and giving him something to find the friction he was seeking, while Cloud found his own friction against Sephiroth's hip.

He could tell that Sephiroth was expecting Cloud to stop at any moment and either take his mouth or his ass, but Cloud didn't think he needed that now, _this_ felt good enough, and it was something different. Pleasure was pleasure after all, and he'd almost licked Sephiroth's throat clean, now that the bite had clotted over.

"Come for me now, if you can." He tangled a hand in Sephiroth's hair and pulled at his head to give him a better angle at his throat, and then...he bit Sephiroth again, startling a cry of mixed pleasure and pain out of him as he climaxed. Cloud was nearly ready to come himself and it just took a few more thrusts after hearing that erotic sound for him to reach completion. Then he relaxed, licking gently at the new bite and stroking Sephiroth's hair as his mate wrapped his arms around him.

"Are you alright?" It had taken him a few moments to notice how Sephiroth was shaking, since Cloud had allowed himself to be distracted by the taste of his blood.

"I...that was incredible. _Thank_ you. I've...never felt anything that good." Cloud stifled his anger at the implication that Zack and Angeal hadn't bothered to really find out what Sephiroth enjoyed, and told himself that his mate was probably overstating the case.

"Thank you." He kissed Sephiroth full on the lips, exploring his mouth and letting him taste his own blood in Cloud's mouth, then he rolled them over, putting Sephiroth on top.

xoXox

Sephiroth tried to hide his surprise when Cloud rolled over, pulling Sephiroth with him so that he was on top, but the faint discomfort he felt at being in a superior position made that impossible. And somehow he was certain that Cloud intended their position to give him control, to imply at least temporary superiority for him, when the same position with Angeal wouldn't do that, would still make sure he understood he wasn't in control, and with Zack it would just be a game, or perhaps equality.

"What's wrong?" Cloud's hands stroked over his back, soothing him without words - partly because it felt like a declaration of Cloud's superiority, changing the context of their positions for Sephiroth.

"I...it bothers me for you to do things that make it seem as if I'm in charge, even for a moment. You know I belong to you." So all control should be his, never Sephiroth's.

"That's why I can do things like this, let you have a little bit of control. You're mine, nothing will change that, so why shouldn't I indulge you sometimes?" Sephiroth's mind shied away from the sort of confidence that implied in Cloud's control and possession of him, he didn't want to think that Angeal might be so insistent on making it clear he was dominant in bed because he was insecure, and Cloud seemed to sense his discomfort. He laughed lightly and rolled Sephiroth off him to lie by his side and sat up to look down at him. "We'll leave that for now, but I think we could both use a shower, don't you?"

"Yes Cloud." Sephiroth ran a hand through his hair, and lifted it so he could inspect it where it felt sticky...some of the chocolate and some of his blood had got into his hair. "But I should comb my hair out first, to make it easier to wash."

"Go ahead. And I'll adjust the shower."

Sephiroth watched as Cloud walked away from him, then pulled out his comb to do as he'd said he would, following him once he'd untangled most of his hair, except the parts matted with blood or something else. It was a wet room, not a shower, a luxury he'd been given when he returned from Wutai after their final defeat, so he was careful to open the door just far enough for him to enter. On seeing him Cloud smiled and reached for the shampoo set in a little recessed shelf in the wall beside him.

"Come and kneel in front of me so I can take care of your hair." Something occurred to Sephiroth as he obeyed, and he knew that Cloud liked him to show initiative with him, so...

"Should I make myself useful while I'm down here?" And he nuzzled for a moment against Cloud's groin to make it clear what he meant.

"If you want." There was a hint of surprise in Cloud's voice; that Sephiroth had offered to do this, or that he could feel arousal again so soon? It didn't matter and Sephiroth began licking lightly at Cloud while he ran his fingers through his hair, making sure the water had soaked into it. "Shut your eyes for me." He obeyed as Cloud shut the shower off, but he kept on sucking as he felt Cloud's fingers working the shampoo into his hair, massaging his scalp at the same time. "Oh, and don't make me come until I tell you to, okay?"

He couldn't speak, but he hummed in acknowledgement around Cloud's cock, then brought him back from the brink with a slight scrape of his teeth along it as he pulled back a little. Almost in response Cloud turned the shower back on, rinsing the shampoo from his hair, and playing with it idly for a bit before telling Sephiroth he could open his eyes. Sephiroth obeyed, and hesitantly lifted his hand to rest on Cloud's hip as he used the other hand to play with Cloud's balls, and then Cloud turned the shower off again to rub conditioner into his hair.

"You can make me come any time you want to after I turn the shower back on, okay?" Sephiroth hummed again, and Cloud turned the shower back on, rinsing the conditioner from his hair. It didn't take too long for Sephiroth to bring Cloud to climax, and he swallowed all Cloud's seed eagerly. "Stand up now. I want to wash the rest of you."

Sephiroth obeyed, and shut his eyes, luxuriating in the feeling of Cloud's hands on his body, cleaning him and taking care of him, and enjoying the quiet words of affection and desire he whispered as he worked.

"I...should I return the favour for you?"

"If you want to love." Cloud smiled up at him and he couldn't help return the smile. First he washed and conditioned Cloud's hair, enjoying the feeling of that surprisingly soft hair underneath his hands, and then he began washing his lover, enjoying the feel of his smooth skin under his hands, stealing kisses when he dared.

Then when they came back into his bedroom Cloud insisted on letting his own hair dry naturally while Cloud combed out and used the hairdryer on Sephiroth's hair. The pampering at least was familiar, and it made Sephiroth feel more comfortable that Cloud was taking care of him the way Angeal and Zack did after something went wrong, or if he'd pleased them a lot.

"You know, this is a lot like what Angeal and Zack do after I blank out. Except..."

"They don't ask you to wash them in the shower, or pleasure them, and they keep on talking to you all the time?"

"Yes." Sephiroth's hair was dry now, and he turned to look at Cloud. "Being pampered like this, it's nice, but I like the way you let me return the favour."

"I can take a hint." Cloud laughed and handed the hairdryer over to Sephiroth, laughing as he turned around to make it easier for Sephiroth. "But my hair's going to be mostly dry by now."

It was, but Sephiroth finished drying the few bits that were still wet before getting up to put the hairdryer away.

"Come back here so I can get some sleep knowing you're in my arms." Cloud pushed the bedcovers back and smiled at Sephiroth as he stretched out. Sephiroth didn't need to say anything to that, he just put the hairdryer down and moved to join his lover, enjoying the feel of Cloud's arms around him.

xoXox


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: second scene includes ass to mouth, that is anal sex followed by the bottom performing oral sex on the top.**

"You don't seem to be that worried about this Cloud." Damon sounded as if he was trying to distract himself from his own nerves by questioning Cloud, so Cloud smiled at him calmingly.

"Well, I know that I'll be in the more advanced group. My contact was able to tell me that. I'm sorry, I didn't think of asking about anyone else."

"You wouldn't want to push things anyway, would you?" Warren sounded knowing, and Cloud decided to deflate him a bit.

"He could have given me the full list of who was in which group, since he saw it in the course of his duties, but I didn't think about asking for it." Cloud was almost certain that other people besides Sephiroth saw those lists during the course of his duties, so he wasn't being indiscreet by telling them about the sort of information his contact had access to. He didn't have a chance to say anything else, since their instructors arrived then and everyone came to attention.

"You'll be split into two groups based on the results of the last week's testing. The group that scored lower will continue training with us, while the group that scored higher will be training with these officers. SOLDIER 3rd class Cloud, SOLDIER 3rd class Damon, SOLDIER 3rd class Francois, SOLDIER 3rd class Isaiah, SOLDIER 3rd class Killian, SOLDIER 3rd class Marco, SOLDIER 3rd class Matthias, SOLDIER 3rd class Peter, SOLDIER 3rd class Rupert and SOLDIER 3rd class Warren leave with your new instructors now."

They saluted and obeyed, following the older SOLDIERs 3rd class through to a different training hall.

"You're supposed to have enough training to be useful now, so you can expect to be leading monster hunting patrols, as well as joining rebel suppressing missions under the command of SOLDIERs 2nd or occasionally 1st class. SOLDIER 3rd class Cloud pay particular attention to this. There is a _standard_ list of equipment and supplies you are supposed to requisition when leading monster hunting parties which I expect you all to memorise. There is also a standard procedure that does _not_ include emotionally blackmailing your men into accepting inadequate shelter on the grounds that you camped out in worse conditions with less equipment as a child."

"Yes sir." Cloud knew he was blushing as everyone else stared at him, and he refused to explain himself. Still, he couldn't resist the urge to protest just a little bit. "I do know what the standard equipment list is sir, I just thought some parts weren't necessary in this case."

"Come to the front and tell everyone what the standard supplies for a five man monster hunting patrol lasting a week are then, if you can."

"Yes sir." Cloud thought quickly as he made his way forward. "To clarify, you mean four troopers and either a non-commissioned officer or a SOLDIER 3rd class commanding?"

"Yes, of course."

"Right sir. Well, you need five bedrolls, made up from a sleeping bag, at least two blankets, possibly more depending on the season and where you're going hunting, a groundsheet and a pillow." It would probably be easiest to cover the equipment needed in groups of what they were used for, so he'd start with the gear to sleep in. "You need two tents, one four man tent for the troopers and a one man tent for the commander." He knew that Scott, at least, had only requisitioned a tent and sleeping gear for himself, and had to scramble to get the extra sleeping gear he needed - although at least his tent had been 'misordered' as a six man tent, probably by some kind supply officer.

"Why separate tents?"

"Procedure sir, an officer, even an NCO isn't supposed to share a tent with his men. If it was a six man patrol, with a second NCO or SOLDIER 3rd class acting as the second in command then it'd be a four man tent and a two man tent, which would be a bit warmer." Having two NCOs or SOLDIERs 3rd class, or a SOLDIER 3rd class with an NCO second in command was the other standard option for a small monster hunting patrol, although sometimes they did send out five troopers under one NCO or SOLDIER 3rd class.

"I didn't ask about a six man patrol. What else do you need?"

"Two cooking pots and a portable stove, with sufficient fuel for a week. Also rations for five men for a week."

"Specify. What do you mean by rations for five men for a week?"

"It usually amounts to fifteen MREs or ration bars a day, for a total of 105 to cover a week, generally with two MREs for every ration bar. Of course these can be supplemented by any food that can be gathered without interrupting the mission, hence the cooking pots, even though MREs come with a chemical heating system and ration bars are intended to be eaten cold." Cloud's team had made up a stew of meat with their MREs during the first evening and finished it off for breakfast, adding the morning MREs, which were supposed to be some sort of porridge, to the stew then.

"What else?" The teacher seemed more confident in his abilities now, no surprise since Cloud had requisitioned everything but the tent correctly, and nothing left would need expanding on - Cloud would make sure of that by going into unnecessary detail without prompting. Once he'd finished Cloud was allowed to return to his place in the ranks and they were led on a run, then through obstacle courses for the rest of the day.

xoXox

Sephiroth knocked cautiously at Angeal's door; Zack had been assigned away from Midgar today, and Sephiroth was fairly sure he saw Gregori's hand in that, so it would be just the two of them.

"Come in." Sephiroth obeyed, moving as quietly as he could, and looking down, making sure Angeal could see his respect in his posture. It wasn't entirely a surprise when Angeal grabbed him as he shut the door, pulling him by one arm, Angeal's other hand covering his mouth, and Sephiroth went limp, allowing Angeal to do whatever he wanted, but _not_ co-operating, not without orders to do so.

"Open your mouth." Sephiroth didn't resist as Angeal pushed a ball gag into his mouth, he knew that his lover wanted, almost needed, his absolute submission, so that was what he'd give him. So he let Angeal throw him to his knees in front of the low table and push him forward to rest his body on top of it, pulling his long leather coat from his body, and he didn't resist when Angeal bound his arms behind him, fastening them into an arm-binder. It didn't interfere as Angeal finished stripping him, moving Sephiroth's body however he needed to in order to do so, and once he was naked Angeal put him over his knee.

"Your ass is pretty now, but it'll be prettier after a good spanking. I do like the way you colour up, pink and red mixed together." Sephiroth shut his eyes as Angeal ran a hand over his ass, knowing that his lover would feel his arousal against his thigh _and_ how he'd most likely react. "You like that idea don't you? I think you need something to help you with your self-control." Angeal slid a hand between Sephiroth's legs, fastening a cock-ring onto him, and connecting a ball-stretcher to that. As the first blow landed Sephiroth wondered how different it would be when Cloud tried his hand at doing this; Angeal's blows were hard right from the start, and Sephiroth was torn between flinching away from the blows and moving into them. He suspected that he'd only feel the latter urge if the first blows were lighter, working up to the heavier blows, but he couldn't know that for certain.

Sephiroth could feel the heat in his ass when Angeal stopped, and he was relieved by the feel of the cool lubricant Angeal used to stretch him before pushing a butt plug into his body. Then Angeal pushed Sephiroth onto the floor and arranged him in a kneeling position in front of his lover. Sephiroth kept his eyes fixed on the floor in front of Angeal's feet, waiting for instructions and not allowing any hint of discomfort to show. He shut his eyes and leaned into Angeal's touch when the other man caressed his cheek, not quite purring.

"You _are_ a magnificent creature, aren't you?" Sephiroth could feel the heat of humiliation flare in his cheeks; he _hated_ bring reminded that he wasn't really human, that he'd been designed and created in the lab to serve the purposes real people wanted him for. But Angeal wanted his absolute submission, and so he didn't do anything to show how much that hurt him, just stopped trying to purr. At least it was only the people he desired himself that Sephiroth felt compelled to please sexually, not everyone who looked as if they wanted him, he couldn't have handled that - not that he'd ever understood why so many people lusted after him. He didn't _look_ human, or even act it in a lot of ways and 'beautiful' meant humans, human women or pieces of art, and weapons _weren't_ art.

"Much as I like the look of your pretty eyes I think I'd rather you couldn't see at the moment...and it looks like you don't want to be able to see either." There was laughter in Angeal's voice as he fastened a blindfold over Sephiroth's head, then he leaned forward and traced Sephiroth's stretched lips with first a finger then his tongue, prompting an involuntary moan. But Sephiroth fell silent when Angeal slung him over his shoulder unexpectedly; Angeal had never told him that he wanted Sephiroth to make noises when he did this, so Sephiroth didn't, he only moaned or made sounds for pleasure, never for pain, or anything else really.

Sephiroth felt Angeal lie him down on his back, arranging cushions so that he wasn't _too_ uncomfortable with his arms trapped behind his back like they were, then his lover pulled the butt plug out and lifted his legs to thrust into him without any more preparation. Sephiroth was almost bent double by the older man's action, but he could _feel_ how close he was to climax, restrained from it only by the cock-ring and ball-stretcher. A haze of pleasure filled his mind as Angeal drove towards his own climax, only increasing when he felt the warmth of Angeal's seed inside him, followed by the warmth of his mouth on Sephiroth's straining cock.

It wasn't enough to let him climax despite the cock-ring, but Sephiroth knew better than to expect _that_ from Angeal, and it was rare enough that he got this. He couldn't keep from showing his pleasure at the act, and he pushed the nagging comparison with how Cloud did this for him as far from his mind as he possibly could, focusing on the moment. He _didn't_ whine when Angeal pulled back and flipped him onto his knees again, pulling the ball gag out and thrusting his cock against his lips.

"Suck." Angeal didn't give Sephiroth much time to show off his skill at this, although he did his best while he could, closing off his mind to the taste - and he was immune to diseases so he didn't really worry about the safety aspect either. Soon enough Angeal was just thrusting into Sephiroth's mouth, and he was blessing his total lack of a gag reflex, relaxing his throat as much as he could and letting his lover use him.

"Good, very good." Angeal stroked his hair and began unbinding him, arms first, then removing the blindfold, before pulling Sephiroth into his arms, resting on his chest for a moment, wrapping his arms around Sephiroth controllingly. When Angeal added a leg over Sephiroth's he knew he wouldn't be able to move without hurting his lover. Finally Angeal slid his hand between them, wrapping it around Sephiroth's cock once he'd removed the ball-stretcher and cock-ring, and Sephiroth felt himself climax over Angeal's hand.

xoXox

Cloud _knew_ the moves their teachers were demonstrating for the rest of the group, and the counters for most of them, but he also knew that there was no point in embarrassing them. Besides, he _needed_ to put in more practice, build the muscle memories he'd depend on in a real fight, and for that it didn't really matter if he was training against someone like Zack or Angeal, or against Damon. But he didn't try to hold back, fighting at his full capacity, forcing his teachers to spar against him themselves instead of assigning the duty to one of his peers. He couldn't afford to do anything less than learn as fast as he possibly could after all, and he certainly couldn't risk developing a habit of holding back.

"Are you holding back?" SOLDIER 3rd class Darres, the teacher he was sparring against sounded suspicious, and Cloud resented that just a bit.

"Not exactly. I'm restricting myself to what you've shown us, not using the stuff Zack and Angeal taught me as well." Cloud shrugged, without ever letting his eyes leave his opponent. "I need to get more practice in without resorting to the more advanced tricks they've taught me." And besides that they'd been told to only use the techniques they'd been taught today in these 'spars'. He was using them as inventively as he could, but he did obey the instructions he'd been given - and he shouldn't have to explain that to the other man.

"We'll be doing some free sparring later on. I want to see you use everything you can in that."

"Yes sir." Cloud glanced past Darres for a fleeting second; everyone else had stopped sparring, even Matthias, who merited special coaching as the worst in the group. "Are you supposed to be demonstrating something 'new' now sir?"

"Ah...yes." Darres looked a bit startled, and joined the other two teachers assigned to the group, helping demonstrate the attack and classic defence they were supposed to be studying now, the third set of the day. Then SOLDIER 3rd class Remus came to work with Cloud, letting him attack first, then switching places with him, so that Cloud was running through the defence to the demonstrated conclusion. There were other options, better ways to deal with the attack, but obviously Cloud wasn't supposed to know about those yet, so he didn't risk the 'innovation'. Besides, the better ways were dependent on certain circumstances, so it was probably safer to engrave the standard defence into muscle memory, and use the alternate options only when he needed to.

"Swap partners and use everything we've shown you today." SOLDIER 3rd class Lionel came to take over from Remus, who went to help Matthias, while Darres took over the duty of watching the class as a whole and correcting any problems. Cloud wasn't going to do exactly as he was expected, even though he was sure it would probably make things easier on himself if he let Lionel guide him through whatever pattern of attack and defence would work best for them. But he was also sure that his teachers would push him harder if he irritated and frustrated them, so he made sure to do almost the exact opposite of what Lionel was expecting. Of course he couldn't afford to antagonise his teachers _too_ much, so he stayed strictly within the rules set out, and he was grateful to see that there was no way he could embarrass Lionel too severely within those limits.

"Switch partners again, and spar freely. Use whatever you know." Darres looked unnervingly eager to see Cloud fight with everything he knew, so Cloud decided to give him what he wanted, even risking a few moves he wasn't quite happy with, knowing that he probably couldn't pull them off just yet.

"You're trying too hard." Darres looked amused now. "Want me to give you a hand getting those moves right? I think you can afford to spend this time actually learning something instead of going over stuff you already know."

"Thanks. You did say you wanted to see everything I know, so when I had the chance I thought I'd try the last few techniques Zack taught me." Zack and Angeal, but Angeal had apparently sought Cloud out on his day off to make it clear he didn't want any of the 'credit' for training him.

"Well, it looks like you're going to spend a lot of time bored."

"Or building more muscle memory, and it's a bit more of a challenge, to fight using a restricted number of moves." Cloud shrugged and waited for more instructions, running through the moves he'd been having trouble with under Darres' observation, making the changes he suggested.

"Well, at least I can help you learn something new now." There was a hint of satisfaction in his voice as Cloud pulled the move he'd been struggling with ever since Angeal taught him it off almost perfectly after hearing Darres explain what he needed to do better.

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome." By the time they finished for the day Cloud had two of the moves he'd learned from Angeal, but not had the chance to go over with Zack down perfectly. He put up with the rest of the group teasing him about being the teacher's pet, especially since they seemed grateful for that, muttering that none of them wanted to face him in sparring, not the way he was fighting. Zack had always had him come up with three alternative uses for every move he was taught if he could, and told him to try to find at least one counter from the moves he already knew. It hadn't always worked, but it gave him a different view on his training, and on the options open to him. Cloud was torn between missing Zack while he was assigned away from Midgar, and being glad, because now he didn't really feel guilty about telling Sephiroth they'd be together this evening.

xoXox

Sephiroth absently shuffled his new deck of 'Tarot' cards, as he wondered what his keeper would want to do with him tonight. He didn't feel up to anything too rough emotionally, but he didn't think Cloud would ask for anything like that, not yet anyway. He was looking forward to the time that Cloud _did_ ask for something like that of course, but just now he was grateful that Cloud seemed to prefer being gentle with him. He laid out the cards in a random order, not really thinking about it, just making a pattern as he waited, abandoning it to stand and greet Cloud when he arrived, eagerly returning his keeper's embrace and nuzzling into his hair before speaking.

"Did you enjoy practising your swordwork with the rest of your group?" He felt just a little bit guilty for hoping that the answer was 'no', that Cloud hadn't really enjoyed the chance to show off his skill among the less skilled, people who hadn't been forced to improve as swiftly as he had.

"It was a bit of a challenge trying to spar using only certain moves, and I did need to build muscle memory, but mostly it was boring. Useful, sparring always is, but boring. SOLDIER 3rd class Darres helped me master two moves I knew, but hadn't quite gotten right until today." Cloud turned in Sephiroth's embrace slightly, looking at the table he'd laid the cards out on. "Are you trying your hand at predicting the future then?"

"What do you mean?" Sephiroth didn't understand what he was talking about as he followed Cloud's gaze to the low table.

"Those cards, they're supposed to be a way to read the future, didn't you know?"

"No...I saw a picture of one of the images, the lovers, and I liked it, so I ordered the whole set of cards by that artist in the dragons theme." Sephiroth looked at the cards with new interest, as Cloud pulled him over to the table, wondering if there was anything he could tell from how he'd laid them out. "How does it work?"

"I don't know. I don't think it really does let you tell the future, but it's a fun game if you know how you're supposed to use them. There's books on the meanings of the cards, and the basic spreads, but I went to a card reader once and she didn't use any of the normal spreads according to Tifa." Cloud pushed Sephiroth down onto the couch and sat on his lap, stroking his hair with one hand as he pushed at one card gently. "This looks a bit like the spread she did for me."

"Might I ask what sort of things she predicted for you?" He hoped he wasn't asking for something too intimate, but he didn't think he was since Cloud was treating it as a joke.

"She said eventually I'd achieve my greatest dream; that my love would be returned by someone who'd never had a protector before, who would need my love and caring. And that I'd have trouble along the way from people ruled by their hatreds and prejudices, but that I'd rise above them." That sounded unnervingly accurate, and Sephiroth bit his lip as he wondered how to tell Cloud that. "Some of that she probably figured out from what she saw during the five days they were at Nibelheim for; I only went at the very end of their visit when everyone else had been to see her, but I never thought I'd get to be with someone like you."

"Thank you." Sephiroth was flattered that Cloud thought so well of him, but he didn't like the implication he thought he heard in Cloud's words and he hoped he was wrong. "Were you...mistreated in your home village?" He didn't like that idea at all, but he could just be projecting his own issues and fears onto Cloud.

"I wasn't popular, and it was a small town. I was the only blond there including my mom, so I was seen as an outsider, especially since my father came from outside of Nibelheim, and he died when I was young. But it doesn't matter. I've got you now, and I know you love me." That was a yes then...but Cloud didn't seem to be angry about it, so Sephiroth wouldn't try to do anything about it yet...he just made a mental note to refuse to go anywhere near Nibelheim unless it was at _Cloud's_ request.

"Yes, I'm yours, in whatever way you want. And I do love you, with all my heart." He loved Zack and Angeal too, but not the way he loved Cloud; Cloud could easily be everything to him, Sephiroth could build his whole life around Cloud if he was permitted to.

"I love you too, my beautiful silver blade." Cloud kissed him almost chastely, petting his hair carefully, and Sephiroth closed his eyes for a moment to enjoy the contact - _and_ the pet name Cloud had used, something he couldn't really ask for no matter how much he wanted it. "I...don't want our time together to be just sex, but..."

"We don't get much time together at all. I know. Please Cloud, I want to feel you in me." He knew that Cloud would be gentle, and he _needed_ the reassurance of feeling Cloud claim him again after Hojo had cornered him with questions about their relationship. He'd tell Cloud about that if he had to, but he'd _far_ rather forget it in the pleasure of Cloud's touch and some of his hunger must have been obvious from the way Cloud laughed quietly.

"Then let's move this to your bedroom." He stood easily and held out a hand to help Sephiroth up, a little courtesy that always made him feel valued, even though, or perhaps especially because it wasn't needed.

xoXox

Cloud liked the way Sephiroth leaned against him for a moment as he helped him up, and he was tempted to keep him there, but that wouldn't get them to the bedroom. He kissed his mate swiftly, pushing his tongue into Sephiroth's mouth, 'forcing' his lips apart instead of waiting for him to open voluntarily, free hand sliding up into his hair. Then he pulled back and pulled gently on Sephiroth's hair, using it as a leash to make his lover follow him into the bedroom.

"Lie down on the bed." He could see how much the quiet order seemed to please his mate, perhaps _especially_ because he gave it verbally, not through their link. Cloud loved how promptly Sephiroth obeyed once he let go of his hair as well. "Do you want us to do this without using our link at all tonight?"

"Please." There was a hint of pain in Sephiroth's voice, but Cloud wasn't going to ask him about that now, resting one knee on the bed to pull Sephiroth's boots off, then sitting down to remove his own. Glancing over at Sephiroth Cloud found himself smiling because his lover had stayed where he put him, even though it must have seemed that Cloud was ignoring him for a moment, and then felt just a little guilty about that.

He crawled over to lie on top of Sephiroth, kissing him gently and stroking his hair and his side, but Cloud was going to wait until _Sephiroth_ did something more to raise the level of intimacy this time. Sephiroth made a soft, slightly impatient noise after a while, and wriggled underneath him for a moment, but Cloud refused to give in, and eventually Sephiroth lifted his hands to slide beneath Cloud's shirt. Cloud rewarded him by moving to kiss his throat, sucking teasingly as he began unfastening the straps across Sephiroth's chest, giving him a wordless hint about what to do next.

When Sephiroth began removing Cloud's clothes he bit down on his lover's throat, sliding his hands down his body to work at Sephiroth's belts, awkward as it was. Eventually they'd both done as much as they could without moving, and Cloud pulled back reluctantly.

"Just stay where you are." Sephiroth liked being dominated, but Cloud wasn't up to doing anything more than give him orders and biting him at the moment. He finished stripping quickly and efficiently, then he moved to kneel beside Sephiroth and strip him, kissing the exposed skin every so often.

"Might I touch you?" Sephiroth's voice was just a little uncertain, and despite the flare of arousal he felt on hearing it Cloud didn't like it that his mate felt compelled to ask permission to touch him. Except...he'd just told Sephiroth to remain in place, and he was asking Cloud to change that order.

"Feel free." But he still lay down on top of Sephiroth, kissing his throat and running his hands over his body, doing his best to overwhelm Sephiroth enough that he wouldn't be able to think of returning the favour. It worked for a while, but not for long and soon Sephiroth was touching him eagerly, teasing him, probably without really realising what he was doing.

Cloud slid his leg between Sephiroth's to force them open and began thrusting against him, guiding Sephiroth's hand down between their legs to work at Cloud while he returned the favour for his lover. But when he felt Sephiroth was just about to climax he shifted his grip to the base of his dick and squeezed hard enough to keep him from climax.

"Don't stop." He could feel Sephiroth faltering, and he didn't want that, not when he was so close to climax himself. When he felt himself come over his lover's hand he pushed away reluctantly, kissing Sephiroth gently on the lips and rolling over onto his back to finish his orgasm.

"Cloud?" Sephiroth sounded unhappy, not that he could entirely blame him for that; what he'd done could seem like a rejection all too easily.

"I want you to clean me up, then get me aroused again and ride me until I come." It wouldn't take too long for him to get hard again, not with Sephiroth, but he didn't want Sephiroth to think that he didn't care about what he needed. "I'll give you a hand if you need me to after that."

"As you command Cloud." But Sephiroth didn't sound too happy about it and Cloud couldn't see why. Unless it was that problem Sephiroth had with the idea of him having any control during sex, and Cloud could deal with that easily enough. Especially since Sephiroth hadn't started yet. He reached out and grabbed hold of Sephiroth's hair, pulling his head and mouth to the highest point his seed had fallen on his body. It worked, and Sephiroth began licking him clean enthusiastically, more so when Cloud kept his hands resting on his head, guiding him in his task.

"Good. Now grab some oil and prepare yourself for me." It was waiting on the side of the bed and Cloud watched with a smile as Sephiroth began stretching himself, a bit quicker than Cloud might have, or than Sephiroth would stretch Cloud, but he was sure his mate knew how much he could take. He let Sephiroth straddle him without doing anything to encourage him, and he just watched as his lover reached between his legs to guide Cloud into him, but once his mate had settled down onto him fully Cloud took hold of Sephiroth's hips, controlling the motion.

He could have left Sephiroth to move by himself, but from the look on his face his mate would enjoy this more, and Cloud gave himself over to the pleasure he was feeling. He wanted Sephiroth to come first, so he moved one hand after he was sure Sephiroth had the rhythm right, and stroked his cock roughly, watching how his lover tossed his head back, that beautiful silver hair falling down his back. He climaxed a few seconds after Sephiroth did, and rolled onto his side, wrapping his lover in his arms, and pulling out carefully.

xoXox

Just one year until Cloud qualified for a room to himself; fifty-one weeks now. Then they wouldn't have to sneak around like this to get time together, Sephiroth could openly acknowledge his involvement with Cloud and even if Cloud decided to forbid that they could sleep together after sex every night if they wanted. And Sephiroth _wanted_ that, badly; it made him feel almost dirty that Cloud didn't stay with him afterwards, even though he knew that Cloud didn't really have that option, and his keeper stayed with him every time that he could.

Last night had been...odd for him, odd but _very_ good. Despite the commands Cloud had given him Sephiroth had been allowed a lot more control than he was used to with Angeal or Zack. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle that very often, but it would be nice as an occasional treat, if Cloud was willing to allow him that sense of control, however illusory it might be in reality. Cloud had said he was willing to indulge him like that sometimes, but he hadn't expected it to happen again so soon after the first time. Which had probably been foolish, since they hadn't actually _done_ anything when Cloud had rolled to put Sephiroth on top of him, he'd been too busy panicking for that.

This time the orders Cloud had given and the way he'd controlled Sephiroth's head and set the rhythm as he rode his keeper had kept him from panicking, or even consciously recognising the similarity with what Zack had done the last time they were alone together. When Zack had ridden him he'd never felt a moment's doubt that _Zack_ was the one in control, but feeling Cloud's hands on his head, and on his hips, setting the rhythm had been enough to make him feel securely under Cloud's control, even after Cloud let him continue with the pace set. He loved the fact that Cloud had been willing to give him one night without using their link, and that he hadn't had to ask for it, as well as the way Cloud had trusted him to keep to the rhythm he'd set.

He'd spent too long lying there thinking about the previous night and Sephiroth dressed quickly before making his way to his usual training room. He glanced around, disappointed to see that he didn't have an opponent available today, then began working through a solo kata. Much as he was tempted to Sephiroth couldn't quite justify destroying some training equipment in an effort to get even a bit of a challenge, so instead he spent the full two hours before he had to get ready for breakfast practising his forms.

There wasn't anyone to eat breakfast with either, even though he was later in than usual, and Sephiroth wondered if Angeal was doing some sort of passive-aggressive thing because he'd spent last night with Cloud. He could have just come to eat earlier, or be planning to eat later, but Angeal was being a bit difficult about Sephiroth's relationship with Cloud, even if he couldn't figure out why. Angeal had known he was interested in Cloud even before the final decision to have him conditioned came down, so why was he so annoyed that Sephiroth had seized the opportunity to build a relationship with the blond out of this?

Zack wasn't angry that Sephiroth wanted a relationship with Cloud; he'd even encouraged Sephiroth to make a move on him _before_ he was ordered to submit to Hojo's conditioning. Sephiroth didn't get why Angeal saw Cloud differently to the way he'd seen Zack: Angeal had been happy enough to add Zack to their relationship when he'd mentioned he was interested, was it because Cloud wasn't involved with Angeal as well? Should he try and convince Cloud to get involved with Angeal and Zack as well? But he didn't like that idea for some reason, and he pushed the thought away as he made his way to his office.

There was a message from Angeal on his desk, and Sephiroth read it eagerly. Apparently about four fifths of the cadets from Gregori's classes who'd found out they could apply more than once had been told directly by him, after they'd failed the first application. Of those almost a third had been accompanied by _two_ instructors on their training exercise facing monsters. And there only four instructors who'd been assigned to do that...Sephiroth was glad Angeal had thought about getting that information, because he hadn't and it was more evidence against Gregori, as well as against the four instructors he'd obviously subverted. The cadets who learned they could apply more than once from someone besides Gregori had usually got the information from someone in a different class, or from a SOLDIER they'd made friends with. This was almost enough to indict Gregori by itself, but Sephiroth wanted to get as many of the SOLDIERs he'd corrupted as possible.

xoXox

NOTE: The second scene does not describe good or even remotely safe BDSM practice. When binding someone a good top will make sure the bondage is not painful, and keep on checking to ensure it does not become harmful - meaning he checks for coolness and numbness, both of which can indicate a loss of circulation. He will also help rub out any aches and pains when he removes the bindings. A gag should not be used without establishing some sort of signal to indicate any problems. And you _never_ go from anal to oral without a thorough washing in between and a change of condoms.


	8. Chapter 8

Cloud glanced quickly at the message he'd collected before he went to his classes and found that he was supposed to visit Professor Hojo again at 1045, for a physical and blood donation. That wasn't anything he'd ever heard about before, and he'd only had a physical just under two weeks ago, before Hojo let him go to join the other new SOLDIERs 3rd class. He could _hope_ to be allowed to skip the physical, but he knew better than to ever think it would happen; Sephiroth had warned him about how possessive the scientist was almost guaranteed to be. This was guaranteed to disrupt their lessons though, and he wasn't too surprised to find that Darres was the only older SOLDIER waiting for them, not when he heard the rest of the group talking about their orders to go to medical or to the labs.

"You've got today and tomorrow off, just go to your appointment for the physicals and blood donation today, and be sure to follow the aftercare instructions you'll be given. Any questions?" Darres was usually the most approachable of their teachers, so he must really dislike something about this...probably the physicals, although Cloud might be wrong.

"Why do we have to donate blood now sir?" Cloud was glad that Killian had asked the question because it meant _he_ didn't have to, or to ask Sephiroth.

"Because SOLDIERs _can_ receive blood that contains a lower level of Mako than their own, but it doesn't work as well as blood containing approximately the same level of Mako." And blood with more Mako would probably be like receiving extra doses of Mako, and therefore dangerous. "And if a SOLDIER is injured seriously enough to need blood it's too dangerous to risk any further strain on his body. So all SOLDIERs are required to donate between 1 and 2 pints of blood every three months, to build up a reserve." Cloud was pretty sure that was all Darres was going to say on the subject, so he didn't bother to ask anything else - he could easily question Sephiroth or Zack about the things he'd left out of the explanation.

'_Sephiroth?'_ He could tell that his mate wasn't really busy with anything that needed his full attention, so he continued once he had Sephiroth's attention. '_I've just been told I have today and tomorrow off, so I'll be with you again tonight.'_

'_Thank you Cloud.'_ It bothered Cloud a bit that something so little could matter so much to Sephiroth, but there was nothing he could do at the moment, so he turned his attention to what the rest of the group were doing. He listened to the other questions before Matthias had to leave to get to his appointment, triggering the group to break up and then he walked up to Darres, stopping him from leaving.

"What is it Cloud?" Darres sounded patient, not annoyed, so he figured it was safe to ask about his schedule.

"I was wondering if you had anything you had to do today, or if you'd be free to spar with me until I have to report to the labs for my physical and blood donation."

"I'd like to see you fight full out a bit more, but stick to the moves you know well." Presumably he was planning to help Cloud with the moves he was having problems with in the free sparring section of the lessons. "My physical's at 1115, when's yours?" They'd already started moving when he asked the question, and Cloud realised he shouldn't have needed prompting to tell Darres that.

"1045. Thanks for agreeing to spar with me. I know it isn't actually something I need to work on as much as other things, but I need to calm my nerves a bit before I go see Professor Hojo."

"He's doing your physical himself? He usually only does the General and a few SOLDIERs 1st class." Darres sounded shocked, and Cloud shrugged in response.

"Yeah, well...I got into SOLDIER by agreeing to play lab rat for him as much as anything else."

"Can't be. You're too good for that. Unless you've got a _really_ screwed up response to Mako?"

"I wouldn't know. But...I'm 'pretty' and SOLDIER 1st class Gregori did my interview." Hopefully the bastard was notorious enough that Darres wouldn't need any further explanation than that - but there was an obvious way to distract him. "Should we use this training room? It looks like it's free."

"Sure. Come on at me." Darres stood in a loose defensive stance, but he was clearly just a bit distracted, and Cloud took as much advantage of that as he could. He still lost by 1030, partly because he wasn't trying to come up with unusual ways to apply the moves he used, and partly because _Darres_ was working harder than he did during Cloud's lessons, but he enjoyed himself anyway.

"You've got more skill than most SOLDIERs do. I expect you'll be up for promotion to 2nd class in a few months."

"I can hope." Cloud grinned at Darres, not saying _exactly_ what he could hope for; that he'd have done well enough that no one would be too suspicious of Cloud being promoted to 2nd class in just under five months time. He knew Zack had been promoted to 2nd class almost exactly six months after he became a SOLDIER, and to 1st class just six months after that, so it wasn't as if it was unprecedented. And SOLDIERs 2nd and 1st class were trained personally by a more experienced SOLDIER of their new class for the first two months as well as being put into the appropriate groups to train for teamwork. "I've got to go now, so I'll see you later."

"Yes, later."

xoXox

Sephiroth firmly repressed his anger when he realised SOLDIER 2nd class Simon had signed off on a claim of accompanying Cloud's group in the monster hunting exercise. He knew that his keeper wouldn't lie to him about what had happened during that training exercise, and the simple fact that the Restore Zack had lent Cloud for the exercise was returned fully mastered was enough to tell anyone that something had gone wrong during it. At least anyone who paid attention and knew about it - Cloud had probably insisted that he was fine, and that he wasn't going to let Gregori beat him, which would have been enough to keep their friend from taking that issue any further.

But there were a lot of discrepancies in his report; for instance he'd assumed that the only monsters Cloud's group had killed were the ones they'd brought evidence of killing back with them - and those had been more impressive than the ones the other groups had killed. Except of course for the group which had been accompanied by two instructors, and even there SOLDIER 2nd class Vittorio had admitted to helping with the kills - just as SOLDIER 2nd class Simon had _claimed_ to help make the kills with Cloud's group. Actually comparing the two reports you'd think both groups had been composed of cadets who were overconfident and arrogant to the point of needing to be rescued when a cadet would try to fight something too powerful for him to handle alone, and while Vittorio had tried to minimise that in his report Simon had done his best to make Cloud's team look as bad as possible.

He'd have to ask Cloud about exactly what happened with his group during the exercise, tonight perhaps, when Cloud would be able to stay with him through the night, or perhaps tomorrow, but for now...Sephiroth sent a query to the linguistics section of the PR department, checking to see how busy they were, then set up a search for the reports by the four instructors Sephiroth suspected of being drawn into Gregori's abuse of power in his previous classes. He spent just over half an hour dealing with the paperwork he was supposed to be doing before he received a response from the linguistics section, informing him that there was one person available, and asking what he needed.

He checked that his search hadn't pulled up anything irrelevant and then attached all of the reports to his reply, asking for them to be checked for any indications of deception, and for similarities between the reports presented for the same cadet class. He made sure that it was clear this _wasn't_ anything official, so he would understand that any other work would come first, but if possible he'd prefer the same person deal with all of the reports.

He didn't get any response by the time he shut his computer down to go to lunch, but he hadn't expected one that quickly after all. This was just something else to add to the evidence against Gregori and his cronies, and perhaps something that would reveal more people Gregori had corrupted. Angeal was waiting at a table when Sephiroth got to the canteen and he resisted the temptation to sit somewhere else in a petty revenge for Angeal's absence at breakfast. It would make people wonder if he avoided the older man, especially since everyone knew Angeal was as close to a friend as he got, and they probably knew that Sephiroth shared Angeal's bed as well, even if they _had_ stopped acting affectionately in public.

"I looked for you at breakfast." He didn't mean to sound accusing, and he didn't think that he actually did, but Angeal might interpret his words that way, and Sephiroth didn't actually mind if he did.

"I had an early meeting in preparation for the next cadet class." Sephiroth hadn't realised that; he'd never paid attention to what Angeal had to do in preparation for the six months he spent training cadets for the SOLDIER Entrance Exams.

"Ah." But before Sephiroth had been given to Cloud Angeal would have sought him out and dragged Sephiroth to eat with him. "Do you know why Cloud would be given leave today and tomorrow?" Cloud hadn't said, and he would prefer it if he didn't have to actually _tell_ Angeal that he wouldn't be available as a result, if his oldest lover could take the hint.

"The SOLDIERs 3rd class make their blood donation this week, and they get the day after the donation off as well, since it takes them a bit longer to recover." Sephiroth had personally always been a bit surprised that ShinRa didn't make SOLDIERs go straight back to work after compulsory blood donation, but he smiled at Angeal as he responded.

"I didn't know that. Thanks. And thank you for the information you left for me this morning as well."

"It won't be enough, but it's more evidence isn't it?"

"Yes, I hadn't considered checking to see which instructors were involved in Gregori's deception with the monster hunting exercise, but I sent their reports to be analysed, since I think there's some more evidence hidden in them."

"Evidence?" Angeal sounded surprised by that, not that Sephiroth could entirely blame him.

"Yes...there were a lot of similarities between the reports written on Cloud's group and the group which had two instructors with them, and I think there might be little inconsistencies that would show how they were falsified, but _I_ don't know how to find them."

"Will it be accepted as evidence?" A purely practical question, and Sephiroth hoped they'd have everything together to get Gregori out before the next time he had control of a class of cadets.

"I don't know, but even if it isn't it will give us an idea of what sort of questions to ask."

"Hmm. I guess you'll be with Cloud tonight and tomorrow night?"

"He's only said about tonight, but probably."

"I see." Angeal left then, since he'd finished eating and Sephiroth hadn't, and Sephiroth did his best to keep from believing it was in punishment for what he'd just said.

xoXox

Cloud left the lab with a sigh of relief, grateful to have escaped from Hojo after just over an hour and a half, since his blood donation had been taken by a lab tech. He'd half expected to be told to come back immediately after he'd eaten, but Hojo had seemed conscious of how it would look for him to pay even more special attention to Cloud than he already was. Cloud had gritted his teeth and forced himself not to respond to Hojo's insinuation that people would assume he'd earned his promotion to SOLDIER 2nd class in four months in bed, and that gossip would have him in Hojo's bed if he wasn't careful.

There wasn't anyone he knew eating in the canteen, so Cloud just picked up his lunch; lots of red meat and dark green vegetables to help him build up his blood again more easily as recommended by the lab tech who'd taken his blood. He found an empty table, and sat there alone, rather than bother asking to sit with anyone else, although he would have if there'd been fewer empty tables, but he didn't object when Geran and Daniel came to sit with him.

"Not eating with the rest of your class?" Geran smiled at Cloud as he asked the question, so it didn't bother him too much.

"No, we've been having our physicals and donating blood today, so we ended up being split up." Cloud shrugged, hoping he wasn't going to be asked for the details of what his physical was like - since he was sure it was more detailed than any other SOLDIER 3rd class'. "Tell me we're not going to be given a physical every time we give blood?"

"No, we just get physicals every six months." Daniel must have seen the displeasure Cloud felt at that idea. "Let me guess; Professor Hojo insisted on doing your physical himself?"

"Yeah, even though he insisted on doing a physical before he let me go and join the rest of the new SOLDIERs. Enough of that. I'm thinking about getting a combat materia to mature in my time off, any suggestions?" Geran and Daniel both had their favourites, but neither of them managed to talk him out of the Lightning materia he'd already decided he wanted. They _did_ give him advice on where to get his materia a bit more cheaply; he'd only scouted places above the Plate, and each of his room mates had a suggestion about where to look for a materia shop under the Plate, in the slums. From there he managed to get enough advice and stories about using materia to cover the rest of the meal.

He was actually surprised by how much less his materia cost when he bought it at the Sector 5 shop recommended by Daniel, but he still made sure to return above the Plate to buy the rest of his medical supplies. He was confident of the quality of the medical supplies above the Plate in a way he wasn't with whatever medical gear he'd be able to find below the Plate, and unlike the materia he couldn't test the quality before buying or using it. Maybe he _would_ have been as impressed by the quality of medicine available below the Plate as he was by the materia there; he certainly knew that medicine in Nibelheim was better than outsiders would expect of such a small village, but he didn't have a reason to take the risk.

This time when he went to the canteen he saw Damon and Warren sitting together, and after putting his meal together he approached them, asking if they were willing for him to join their table.

"You don't need to ask Cloud. Just sit down." It was nice to be so easily welcomed, and Cloud was sure that if Warren had any objections he'd have said so.

"Did your source warn you about the physicals and blood donation?" His question would probably give Warren reason to boast at least a little, and Cloud didn't have any reason to mind giving him that.

"Yeah; he said all SOLDIERs had to have physicals every six months, and donate blood every three, and it was coming up these two weeks for SOLDIERs 3rd class, but he couldn't say exactly when we'd have to donate. What about yours?" Cloud needed something to distract Warren without revealing exactly who his 'source' was, and he needed it fast. Of course; not all SOLDIERs went through the cadet programme.

"I don't think it occurred to him to mention it, you should know that it's just the cadets who _don't_ have to donate blood four times a year."

"So he thought you'd already know, yeah I get it. I got almost an extra two months between donations because of the Exams coming just before my unit was due to give blood again. What do you think would happen if it was the other way, a new SOLDIER having to give blood early?"

"I don't think it would be too bad; it's scheduled for two months after enhancement, so everyone will have had at least that long to recover, and honestly men only really need two months to recover enough to safely donate again." Cloud had heard that from one of the lab techs, complaining about Hojo's desire to do experiments on the all too scarce supply of SOLDIER blood. "Any plans for your day off tomorrow?" He glanced at both of his friends, including Damon in the question.

"We're going out drinking tonight." Damon sounded almost wistful; Cloud remembered how they'd never been able to trust the rest of their class to guard their backs if they did that; and _he_ hadn't wanted to go drinking, to risk being out of control that way.

"I know a couple of good whorehouses too, so we can relieve any lingering virgins among us of that little problem. Want to join us?"

"Sorry, no. I'm spending tonight with my lover. Besides, I want to do some work on my endurance tomorrow," his wind actually, but it was pretty much the same thing, "going out drinking won't help with that. Any suggestions on what I should do besides those obstacle courses and track circuits again and again?" He directed the question more at Warren than at Damon, betting that the older SOLDIER would have more experience from being able to draw on his time in the regular army while he was waiting for his second chance at the Exam.

"Kit up and go for a nice long run, outside of Midgar. Don't bother carrying too much, and set a nice easy pace, something you can keep up for a long time, all day if you have to." So he wouldn't be pushing himself the way he had been when he ran the courses with the other new SOLDIERs 3rd class. And he could get some combat practice in against any monsters he ran into during his training.

"Thanks for the advice." Cloud grinned at Warren as he spoke. "And you _don't_ need to tell me that I need it, I _know_ I do."

"You're playing catch up. And I'm not sure how much you can slide by on your sword work, or for how long."

"Not long I'd think. And I can manage to keep up with you lot on the courses - I just have to push harder than the rest of you."

"Yeah, you were last in the test, but not by that much, and Peter was fourth from last there." Cloud was relieved to here Damon join the conversation again, and he grinned at the redhead. "You really think _anyone's_ gonna be allowed to 'slide by' on anything?"

"They let exceptional fighters do a little bit worse on the courses back in the Regulars; don't think the SOLDIERs'll be much different." Cloud shrugged, at Warren's words, since they were pointing out things he wasn't comfortable with himself.

"I can make the minimums, I don't think they'll come down too hard on me as long as I can do that, and as long as the gap isn't too obvious. I'll _close_ the gap as fast as I can, but can we talk about something else? Like girls, what sort of girls do you like?" They both laughed at that, but they _did_ agree to change the subject.

xoXox

Sephiroth paced nervously, hoping Cloud would just walk in and take charge tonight; he couldn't take worrying about exactly what he should do to please his keeper after the way Angeal had been acting. Perhaps...a hint? He ran the idea through his mind, and when he didn't find any problems with it, or feel any hints that his conditioning would prevent it he relaxed a bit. His plan would have the added benefit of keeping him well out of Cloud's reach when he entered the room as well; not that he thought that was likely to be a problem when Cloud had been with him just last night.

He could hear Cloud approaching his door, and put his plan into action, moving to a spot where his lover would see him when he walked in, and kneeling to wait for his arrival. It wasn't a risk, if it was anyone but Cloud they'd have to knock and wait for him to let them in; even Angeal and Zack would have to do that since he'd never given them keycards for his rooms. Angeal had asked once, but he'd refused on the grounds that the other man hadn't offered _him_ a keycard to his quarters - and Angeal had never changed the situation, he'd seemed just a bit offended by Sephiroth's explanation. Sephiroth hadn't understood why, but he'd decided it didn't matter, and when Angeal had asked about his reason for giving Cloud a keycard he'd pointed out that not only did Cloud _not_ have private quarters of his own, but Sephiroth had been ordered to give him access to his quarters.

"Sephiroth?" For a moment Sephiroth thought that Cloud would ask what was going on, but then he felt his keeper's mind sweep across his, ruthlessly extracting whatever information he needed through their link. "What are you doing still dressed?"

"Sorry Cloud I-" He was cut off by a sudden pain in his head.

'_Silence!'_ He flinched as Cloud sent that word thundering through their link on the heels of the pain, then leant his head into Cloud's outstretched hand as his keeper soothed the pain as easily as he'd caused it. '_I don't want to hear a _word _from you tonight, not unless I explicitly give you permission to speak. Understood?'_ Sephiroth wasn't sure if Cloud meant speech through their link as well as verbally, so he just nodded against his lover's hand, grateful that he would be getting what he needed tonight. Cloud would be giving clear and unambiguous orders, at least he hoped he would, and Sephiroth wouldn't have to _think_ at all, only obey.

"Good boy." Cloud stroked his hair almost lovingly as he spoke. "Now, get undressed. Ah, no." Cloud's hand moved to his shoulder, holding him down when Sephiroth tried to stand to obey. "I don't want you to stand; stay on your knees." That would make it a little harder to strip, but not that much harder, and it would probably work out as a better show for Cloud as well. He waited for Cloud to release him and was surprised to hear his keeper stepping back a few paces, but then he started by wriggling out of his coat, letting it fall down his arms, pulled by the weight of the armour fastened to it. Glancing up through lowered lashes he saw Cloud watching him with a hungry smile on his face, and he bowed his head again in a futile effort to hide his arousal and pleasure at the hinted possessiveness.

He twisted around to put his coat to the side, out of the way, and then began working on the boots, emphasising how awkward this was, because he was sure that was what Cloud wanted - because Cloud seemed to be aroused by that from what he could sense through their link. He moved to unfasten his harness next, turning to face Cloud again and letting his hair fall over his shoulder.

"No, leave that on." Sephiroth's hands obediently moved to his belts, and he put those aside, before raising himself a little to unfasten his pants, then inch them down his legs, wriggling as much to please Cloud as to make it easier to get them off. Then he settled back down on his heels and clasped his hands over his lap, bowing his head and focusing on the floor in front of him, waiting for Cloud to give another command. Cloud didn't say anything for a while, and Sephiroth resisted the urge to look up, to follow Cloud's movements with his eyes and not just his ears, focusing instead on holding his position for Cloud's pleasure.

"If you're posing for me I want your legs further apart; say your knees about shoulder-width apart, and your hands resting palm down on your thighs. But not now. Now I want you to come and kneel in front of me; between my legs."

Sephiroth obeyed, blushing at the knowledge that he'd displeased Cloud, even in so small a way, he crawled over to his keeper's feet and knelt between his legs obediently, never looking above his waist. He shut his eyes when Cloud reached out to stroke his cheek, and leaned into his keeper's touch, purring ever so slightly in pleasure.

"I want to feel your mouth on me first. But don't make me come." He hadn't given Sephiroth permission to use his hands at all, so he leaned forward, nuzzling at his keeper's groin through the cloth at first, before using his teeth to unfasten Cloud's pants, stopping to purr when Cloud rested his hand on the side of his face with a laugh. "You may use your hands to get access, but for nothing else."

Sephiroth had to pull back to obey, but Cloud kept his hand cradling his face even as he reached into his lover's pants to pull out his cock and balls. As he moved forward, to lick lightly at the head of his keeper's cock first Cloud's hand moved to cradle the back of his head, and he let his eyes fall closed in pleasure at the reassurance that Cloud would correct him if he made a mistake. He leaned forward a bit further, tracing the vein on the underside of Cloud's cock briefly, before moving back to take Cloud into his mouth. He was careful not to stimulate Cloud too much, to keep the pleasure from building until it reached the point of climax, but that wasn't difficult...it wasn't anything Angeal or Zack had ever required of him, but all it required was careful attention to your lover, and that was something he loved to give.

When Cloud let his hand fall from the back of his head Sephiroth took that as the signal to stop, sitting back on his heels and taking the risk of looking up directly at Cloud's face. Immediately Cloud wrapped one hand in his hair, pulling him up so that Cloud could kiss him, while the other hand rested at Sephiroth's groin, stroking him to full arousal.

"You did very well." Cloud's grip slid down the length of his hair, finally tightening further away from his scalp, giving Sephiroth a bit more freedom. "Now stand." he obeyed, pulling back to give Cloud room to stand as well, and he followed when Cloud led him to the bedroom, hand still wrapped in his hair.

xoXox

Cloud kept on checking how Sephiroth was feeling through their link, hoping he was giving his lover what he needed and making sure he wasn't pushing him too hard or being too demanding. But his mate was enjoying the way Cloud was controlling him, his movement, his behaviour and his speech. Cloud didn't really understand it, but he didn't need to, not really as long as he was careful not to abuse the power he had over Sephiroth, and he guided his lover through to the bedroom by his hair after enjoying his expertise at oral sex for a long enough time.

"Stand still until I tell you otherwise." He released Sephiroth's hair as he spoke, and began combing his fingers through it, trying to smooth out the tangles he'd just put into it. It wasn't really working, but it made Sephiroth purr in pleasure, so he kept on doing it for a while, before he began to walk around his lover, fingers trailing over his body, tracing the edges of the harness he was still wearing at times, or tweaking a nipple just to see the reaction. Finally he stretched up to kiss Sephiroth's throat and lightly bite it, before leaving him to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Now kneel, facing me." Sephiroth obeyed instantly, taking up the position Cloud had described earlier, letting him see how much this aroused him. But his head was bowed, and Cloud didn't really like that. "No, look at me." This time Sephiroth obeyed more slowly, as if he was a bit uncomfortable meeting Cloud's eyes, not that Cloud entirely blamed him for that - he remembered how Angeal had reacted as if Cloud was challenging him somehow every time he met the older man's eyes.

"Good. I want to see your pleasure in your eyes." The lubricant was positioned conveniently near Cloud, and he reached to pick up the vial of oil, tossing it at Sephiroth. "Now, I want you to prepare yourself, and make it look good. Stroke yourself at the same time, but not to climax."

Sephiroth opened the vial, and put it to one side, pouring some oil onto the fingers of his right hand while the left wrapped around his cock. He lifted his hips up a bit, thrusting into his hand, while he moved his right hand to his ass. Cloud could tell when Sephiroth slid the first finger into his body, because it showed on his face, and he could hear the indrawn breath, followed by renewed motion on his cock.

"You can play with your balls for a bit if you want, or touch your nipples." Because he could see _and_ feel that his lover was getting perilously close to climax after the second time he went back to get some more oil. Sephiroth's immediate reaction was to grab at his balls, and pull at them, and Cloud could see how that took the edge off. He was tempted to open his own pants and stroke himself, but he was pretty sure that wouldn't be any help in setting the scene for Sephiroth, at the moment he could tell that his mate needed a master who was in total control, of himself _and_ of Sephiroth. And honestly, he wanted to feel in control, to impress his control on his mate after having to submit to Hojo's attention in the lab today.

When he thought he'd given Sephiroth long enough to prepare himself he stood and walked around to stand behind his lover, finally unfastening his pants as he walked to give himself some relief from the growing constriction. He scooped up the oil and coated his dick with it before he said anything, enjoying the way Sephiroth shivered, sending ripples through his hair as Cloud stood behind him.

"You've done enough preparation. Lean forward, ass in the air and put your forearms on the floor." He knew he was being a bit blunt, but he couldn't think of a prettier way to say it, and Sephiroth obeyed quickly enough, bending his arms so he could rest his forehead on them, and Cloud had no hesitation about thrusting straight into him. He didn't even _try_ to be gentle, just setting a rhythm, and adjusting his angle until he could feel Sephiroth's pleasure through their link, refusing to feed his own pleasure into his lover, only partly because his mate didn't like it. But he still made a point of holding off on his own climax until Sephiroth came on his cock with a half-strangled cry, and he raked his nails down Sephiroth's side as he came.

"Good, that was good my love." He stroked Sephiroth's back soothingly as he pulled out enjoying the purr he elicited in response. "To your feet." This time he took hold of Sephiroth's wrist as he tugged him to the bathroom, finishing the job of stripping Sephiroth naked and removing his own clothes before he turned the shower on. "Wash me."

Sephiroth looked and felt pleased as Cloud stepped into the shower, and he didn't hesitate to let his lover move him however he felt he needed to so that he could obey the order. Then it was Cloud's turn to return the favour, but first...

He kissed Sephiroth, wrapping that long silver hair around his fist and pushing him up against the wall, free hand running roughly down his body to his groin, and then, once he was hard Cloud pressed his own arousal against Sephiroth's, thrusting against him until they both climaxed. He stepped back, pulling Sephiroth more fully under the shower and began washing him slowly and very gently, kissing him every so often.

"Do you want to dry my hair first, or would you rather I took care of you first?" Sephiroth looked torn and Cloud remembered his earlier order. "You may speak to answer the question, but nothing else."

"If it would please you I'd love to attend to you first."

"Good." Cloud stepped out of the shower and picked up one towel, drying himself off. "You can turn the shower off now and come out." He handed the towel he'd used to his lover as he stepped out. "Here, use this to wrap your hair." Then he picked up a dry towel and started drying Sephiroth down, pulling him through to the bedroom once he'd finished.

xoXox


	9. Chapter 9

Sephiroth woke with Cloud lying half on top of him, one leg wrapped around his own and an arm around his waist, and he made the decision to just _stay_ there, to enjoy the feel of his keeper's body resting against his own and to keep from disturbing his sleep. He could afford to miss his early morning training this once, and he'd rather just revel in the memory of the previous night. Cloud had been so good to him; he hadn't known it was possible to be dominated that completely without any real pain. But Sephiroth hadn't needed to think about a single thing all night, attending to Cloud's needs before his own had been almost reflex, and he'd been permitted to please Cloud again after his keeper had finished drying his hair.

"Mmm." Cloud nuzzled against his chest briefly, and Sephiroth realised he must be waking up. He hesitated, then wrapped his arms around Cloud's shoulders, stroking his back encouragingly; the only thing he'd wanted and _not_ got last night had been a bite mark, and perhaps his lover would bite him this time. No, he shouldn't think something like that, his wants weren't important, not beside pleasing Cloud, his needs did matter, but even they came second to Cloud's desires. Still, Sephiroth closed his eyes, tilted his head back and purred as Cloud's mouth moved to his throat, inviting his lover's attention wordlessly, ready to give Cloud whatever he wished.

"Sephiroth?" Cloud sounded pleased to be waking up with him, but at least a little bit confused.

"Yes my love?" He opened his eyes, looking into Cloud's and trying to work out what was troubling him.

"Did I give you what you needed last night?" Cloud kept on petting him, consciously or otherwise.

"Oh yes, you were wonderful. I couldn't have handled any illusion of control or uncertainty about how to please you." Sephiroth bit his lip, considering, then tilted his head back again. "Would you like to...play some more?" He was pushing a bit, but they did have time and it would be nice to have a chance to please Cloud again. Perhaps this time he'd be able to show a bit more independent thought than he'd felt capable of last night as well.

"You won't be missed?" Cloud's concern for his normal routine was touching, Angeal had sometimes kept him from training to gain the time to fuck him again, but he should know from the priorities that he'd set himself that Sephiroth wouldn't let even Cloud's pleasure keep him from performing his duties. He simply saw no reason not to skip his training for one day when it would buy him extra time with his lover. "I know you like to train early."

"But I don't have any regular sparring partners. I don't often find someone willing to spar with me; it tends to be used as punishment duty actually." He hadn't known that when one of his commanders arranged a sparring partner for him it was meant as punishment for his opponent until Angeal had told him that when he commented on how his assigned sparring partners tended to be less skilled than the volunteers.

"I wish I could get away with asking to spar with you publicly, but it would be too revealing, wouldn't it?" Cloud's hands were wandering idly over Sephiroth's body as he spoke, and he did his best not to purr the way he wanted to, instead focusing on answering his keeper.

"Yes, I'm sorry, but people would wonder why a SOLDIER 3rd class was willing to face me, and there'd be even more questions if I..." He trailed off, reluctant to remind Cloud how inhuman he was, how much of a monster...so far his keeper had treated him as a person, not a possession, even though _Cloud_ of all people had the right to consider him nothing more than property.

"If people noticed you holding yourself back to my level. I know. I got away with letting people know Angeal and Zack had been teaching me to use a sword, but there'd be far too much gossip if I claimed you as a teacher. And no one would believe you were desperate enough for a sparring partner to resort to someone like me." Cloud's words were accurate, and at least he didn't sound as if it bothered him, rather Sephiroth could tell that Cloud admired his skill and was determined to grow to match it himself, an impression reinforced by his next words. "Not until I reach 1st class anyway."

"There's already people talking about your skill, yes. Cloud, _please_!" Sephiroth knew he wasn't supposed to be asking, but this combination of talking and teasing touches was a torment to him. Cloud laughed and kissed him, sliding his leg between Sephiroth's.

"All right love. We'll talk more afterwards. Do you think you can get away with ordering breakfast for two brought here?"

"If you want me to." That seemed to be enough for Cloud, and he began making love to Sephiroth then.

xoXox

Cloud loaded his backpack pretty lightly with food and water for the run, fastening one bottle to his belt and packing iodine tablets in case he needed to refill any bottles. Then he fitted his new Lightning materia into the bangle he'd been issued with two unlinked slots and settled his longsword where he could grab it easily in case he was attacked. That was everything he'd need according to his room mates, and he'd confirmed that by asking Sephiroth for advice this morning after they'd made love.

He caught the train to the edge of Midgar without even trying to grab one of the few seats; it would probably be almost impossible to sit comfortably with his sword still fastened to his side, and it had been difficult enough to get it settled before leaving. But no one was crowding him on the train, probably a side-effect of his new Mako eyes, because he was sure his sword wasn't impressive enough to merit that sort of personal space. He'd been told he'd be allowed to train with a Buster Blade like Zack used after he got his next set of enhancements, and he just hoped he didn't screw up badly enough that people would wonder why he'd been promoted.

He pushed his doubts aside as the train reached the very last station, only then realising how few people were left in the carriage with him. But there weren't that many people waiting at the station either, so he knew for a fact that he hadn't scared anyone off the train - not that he really thought most people would be scared of _him_, even with Mako eyes.

He hadn't planned any particular route for his run, but he didn't feel any need for that; he'd turn back after three or four hours and he didn't really think he'd have a problem retracing his steps. They'd done classes on how to track and how to find their way in rough country, and Cloud had ended up making sure the rest of the cadets Gregori hated learned at least as much as his city-boy favourites did. Cloud shrugged, and gave himself a little shake, making sure everything was settled right, and began to run at the steady ground eating pace he'd learned since coming to Midgar. One of the few instructors who'd been willing to help teach the cadets Gregory disapproved of properly had been in charge of making sure they learned how to run with a full load, and how to carry their load. He should remember to tell Sephiroth that SOLDIER 2nd class Jethro had been a good teacher to _all_ of his students, he _had_ favoured some of the cadets, but it manifested as him pushing the more talented in his area harder than the rest of them.

He'd been running for about an hour when he was attacked by a Hell House. He dropped his backpack to the ground as he dodged its initial attack and threw a Bolt at it, before following that up with close combat. It was different to fighting another man, but the same techniques worked for attacking the monster and he focused as much as possible on dodging to defend himself. In the end he finished the monster off with another Bolt and paused to butcher the corpse, putting the bits he could sell into resealable plastic bags after finishing off his second bottle of water.

This time he kept a look out for any sources of water as he ran; it looked like he would be drinking a lot more than he'd expected. When he did find a stream he finished off his third bottle of water, and refilled all three bottles, adding an iodine tablet to each bottle and storing them towards the bottom of his pack - just on top of the Hell House parts.

He ate the next time he found a stream, just under four hours into his run, and he decided that was when he should turn back, after filling up his flask again. He didn't encounter any more monsters, so he arrived back at the station he'd set off from six and a half hours after he left...just in time to see a train pulling out. He cursed quietly and checked the timetable, relieved to see that there was another train due in just a quarter of an hour.

When he got back to his room to drop off his backpack after collecting the bounty on his kill he found Geran and Daniel there as well, putting their swords away.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you Cloud?"

"Not yet, what about you two?"

"No, want to eat with us?"

"And you can tell us if anything interesting happened on your run."

"Only if you tell me if there's any good gossip going around the base that I missed." Cloud knew he was nowhere near as connected to the gossip network as Zack was, but he was trying to get better about that, and letting his room mates know he was interested in the gossip might help.

xoXox

After he'd eaten Sephiroth returned to his office where he printed out the summaries of what they had so far to use against Gregori. It wasn't exactly unusual for him to leave his office with paperwork to finish off in his quarters, or to come back to do some extra work, or pick extra work up, although he had cut back on that since he'd become Cloud's lover. He wanted to be able to report on how things were going, and to check that Cloud agreed with his desire to get evidence on _every_ instructor Gregori had subverted if at all possible.

Cloud was already there in his quarters, and he was glad to see him there; it made him feel oddly secure to know that Cloud wanted him enough to wait for him, that his keeper could be so patient. Angeal was more likely to drag him away from whatever he was doing rather than allow him time to finish his other business and Zack would _wait_, but somewhere he was in Sephiroth's awareness constantly, distracting him until he could only think of his lover.

"You look tired Cloud." He tried to let his keeper see his concern; Cloud had taken care of him last night, he could return the favour if it was needed.

"I am, but it's a _good_ tired. My run was mostly uneventful, but I got the chance to try out my new Lightning materia on a Hell House. And I heard that Angeal's been avoiding you a bit lately. Do you want to come and tell me about it?" He patted the couch beside him in a clearly implied command. Sephiroth put his papers down and obeyed, sitting by Cloud and putting his arm around his waist, pulling his keeper in to rest against his chest, prepared to release him if Cloud put up any objection. But Cloud just leaned into his embrace, putting a possessive hand on his stomach as he kissed Sephiroth's throat.

"I hadn't realised people had noticed. He...doesn't entirely like it that I'm yours now." Sephiroth didn't really want to go into more detail than that, but Cloud sensed that and was kind enough to back off instead of demanding more details.

"Can you handle it? I won't give you up, but if you can handle Angeal I won't try to interfere." Cloud was petting him as he spoke, and Sephiroth did his best to resist the temptation to just purr in response to Cloud's faith in him.

"Yes, I can deal with him. I don't understand _why_ he has a problem with me being yours, but he knows he can't really fight it. Do you want to hear how building a case against Gregori is going?" It was a pretty blunt and unsubtle way of changing the subject, but from the way Cloud came to attention he _liked_ the new subject, or just the fact that Sephiroth was so willing to keep him informed.

"Is that what those papers were for?" Cloud pulled away to reach for the papers, then settled back against Sephiroth, laying them in his lap. "I remembered that there's at _least_ one of his instructors who doesn't play Gregori's game, SOLDIER 2nd class Jethro, so he's not implicated. I'm not entirely sure how many were actively involved in his persecution of us 'pretty' cadets, as opposed to just allowing themselves to be influenced by the general view of us as less talented than Gregori's favourites, but Jethro treated us all absolutely equally until he could see how good we were for himself."

"You want me to go after as many of the SOLDIERs who helped Gregori persecute the cadets he had issues with as possible then." It was what Sephiroth wanted to do himself, so that was a relief, but Cloud should know... "That will take longer than if we just go after Gregori."

"Yeah, well, I don't think it's like a snake, where if you cut off the head the body'll die. More like a hydra, cut off the head and another two just grow right back. He's taught them to be prejudiced, to lie, to cheat and to never give the people they hate even the slightest chance and if we don't go after them as well they'll just learn that they can get away with abusing the cadets they don't like, as long as they can find someone to make into their scapegoat." There was a hint of bitterness in Cloud's voice, telling Sephiroth that he spoke from some sort of bad experience, but Sephiroth wasn't going to presume to _ask_ about it; Cloud would tell him if and when he felt it appropriate.

"Yes, they probably would." He should start by showing Cloud what they had on Gregori first, so he handed that summary over. "Here's what we have to use against Gregori so far. I...if it would please you...perhaps you could use our link to get more details?"

"That's a good idea, well thought love." Sephiroth could feel Cloud searching through his mind, and he did his best to bring everything he'd seen on Gregori to the front of his mind while holding back a bit on the other information. What he had on Simon, Vittorio, Ronan and Jason was sketchy enough that he could report it verbally, and he wanted to see how his keeper reacted. "You've collected a lot of information on Gregori I'm impressed. I just wish I could have helped more."

"You gave me somewhere to start looking for evidence of his misconduct, I didn't have the first idea where to look until you told me." It was the simple truth, even if Sephiroth was verbalising it mostly to see Cloud smile. "And you can perhaps tell me if there were any instructors besides Jethro who didn't follow Gregori so slavishly."

"Hmmm...I can't think of any at the moment, but if I do then I'll tell you." Cloud reached to stroke Sephiroth's hair as he spoke an odd smile playing over his lips and Sephiroth only just managed to focus on what he was saying. "So why don't you explain whatever it was you were trying to keep back for a verbal report?"

"I'm sorry. I should have..." He didn't get any further because Cloud covered his mouth with his hand.

"No, don't apologise. I think it's sweet. Just tell me."

"SOLDIERs 2nd class Simon, Vittorio, Ronan and Jason are the instructors who fake reports on the monster hunting exercise for the groups Gregori doesn't like, and who double up for the group of his favourites. I've sent their reports to linguistics for analysis. I think it might help if you and Damon agreed to prepare a statement about what happened during that exercise from your viewpoint."

"I can do that. But I think we've talked enough about that subject." And then Cloud kissed him.

xoXox

Cloud climbed into Sephiroth's lap as he kissed him, letting the printouts his lover had brought with him fall to the floor. Sephiroth instantly opened his mouth under Cloud's and Cloud reached up to stroke his hair, resting one hand on his shoulder as Sephiroth's hands came to rest at the small of his back. He loved the way his mate moaned into his mouth, taking it as an affirmation of his skill, or of the desire Sephiroth felt for him. He skimmed his hand down along Sephiroth's arm, then ran his fingers teasingly over his stomach, just above his belt, making Sephiroth shiver against him.

"C-can we move this to my bedroom?" Cloud was a little surprised that Sephiroth was willing to make the suggestion when he pulled back from the kiss, but he smiled at his lover, pleased that he was in the mood to take some degree of initiative.

"That's a good idea. Think you can carry me?" He was teasing, mostly, but he did sort of like the idea of having Sephiroth carry him to bed, even if he was usually sensitive about his size. He didn't expect the way Sephiroth's eyes went wide, or the mix of shock and arousal he could feel through their link before Sephiroth collected himself and lowered his eyes with a faint blush.

"If it would please you Cloud." Sephiroth worried lightly at his lip before he continued speaking, but Cloud didn't interrupt him; he could sense that his lover had something more to say after all. "You'll need to put your arms around my shoulders for balance...and perhaps wrap your legs around my waist when I stand up." Cloud obeyed at once, laughing as he clasped his hands together behind Sephiroth's neck.

"Go ahead then." He could feel Sephiroth taking hold of him by the hips as he stood up, and quickly wrapped his legs around Sephiroth to make it a bit easier on him. "You okay?"

"Yes. If you are comfortable?"

"Just fine, and I think you could free up a hand if you wrapped one arm around my waist." Cloud didn't need Sephiroth to hold him in place, he was doing a good enough job of that himself, but it would probably help with the balance, and he buried his face against Sephiroth's shoulder to let him see better.

"Thank you, that makes it a lot easier." It would make a difference that Sephiroth could see where he was going instead of trying to steer blind, but Cloud couldn't work out why it pleased his lover so much that he had asked to be carried to bed. He hesitated, then he decided to check through his lover's mind for the reasons, as discreetly as he could, determined to pull back if he saw any evidence he was bothering Sephiroth. He quickly found Sephiroth's wonder that Cloud was permitting himself to be carried, that he wasn't making a point of always looking strong, and that he'd interpreted Cloud's request to be carried as an appreciation of _Sephiroth's_ strength. Cloud extricated himself from his mate's mind, wondering why it meant so much to him that Cloud appreciated his strength - or was it that he appreciated Sephiroth's strength in _intimate_ situations?

"Just sit down on the bed." If Sephiroth hadn't been hesitating, standing just inside the bedroom Cloud wouldn't have said anything, he'd have waited to see what his lover came up with, but obviously Sephiroth wanted Cloud to tell him what to do. Once Sephiroth had settled down on the bed Cloud relaxed his arms and legs and began kissing Sephiroth again, undressing him while he was distracted this time. He pushed his lover down to lie on the bed once he was naked, letting him move his legs to a more comfortable position as Cloud began stripping his own clothes off.

"Do you have a blindfold...no, make that two blindfolds?"

"Two? No, I've just got one." Cloud liked the way Sephiroth was allowing his confusion to show on his face, and sent a mental caress through their bond to reward him. "I...why do you want two?"

"That's not your concern." He'd thought it would be fun if they were _both_ blindfolded, but he'd settle for blindfolding Sephiroth. "And it doesn't matter since I can't use that idea. Just go and get your blindfold."

"Yes Cloud." Sephiroth crawled over the bed to pull a black blindfold from the cabinet beside it. He handed the mask to Cloud and lay back down, a faint smile on his lips. Cloud leaned down to kiss the corner of his mouth, then licked along the lips before sliding his tongue into his lover's mouth as he fastened the blindfold over Sephiroth's eyes. Sephiroth went almost limp as Cloud ran his hands lightly down his ribs, still kneeling beside him for the moment and Cloud pulled back anxiously.

"Are you alright?" He could sense pure relaxation through their link, but it felt natural and there was an undercurrent of thoughts running slowly through his mind, rather than the near blankness that had filled Sephiroth's mind when Cloud had completed their bond.

"Yes Cloud. This...is familiar and it's usually _really_ good." He hadn't expected that response, so he moved to lie on top of Sephiroth, kissing his bared throat as he stroked across Sephiroth's left wrist, and down along the edge of his hand to the base of his thumb, one of his lover's sensitive areas his other hand tangled in Sephiroth's hair. "Please..." Then Sephiroth fell silent, and glancing up Cloud could see that he was biting his lower lip.

"Don't do that love. If you want to speak you can. I know you don't like using our link for this."

"Thank you Cloud." He wasn't sure why Sephiroth felt he needed permission to speak, but once he was certain his lover wouldn't hurt himself again Cloud kissed that bitten lip, running his tongue over the indentation left by Sephiroth's teeth, and tasting just a hint of blood. That told him what his lover had been asking for - he'd been grazing his teeth against Sephiroth's skin when his lover spoke. He moved back to Sephiroth's throat, and bit him hard enough to draw blood before he started kissing his way down Sephiroth's body, enjoying the way it made him respond.

When he took Sephiroth into his mouth he half expected he'd have to deal with an attempt to thrust, but instead Sephiroth somehow managed to stay motionless, even though he climaxed in seconds as Cloud pulled back to avoid the seed as much as he could. He grabbed the oil, and began preparing Sephiroth, touching him in the sensitive spots he could reach and kissing him in other sensitive spots, occasionally biting him in the less sensitive areas, just hard enough to leave little dents from his teeth. Sephiroth was hard again by the time Cloud slid into him, but after that he focused on his own pleasure, not hurting his lover, but letting him deal with his own pleasure himself.

He pulled out and led Sephiroth through to the bathroom, tying his hair up out of the way while he washed his lover and himself clean, without removing the blindfold, but checking through their link that Sephiroth was still comfortable. He was, and deeply relaxed in a way Cloud had never seen him before, and it was almost with a sense of regret that he too the blindfold off after tossing the top sheet from the bed, and pulling his lover down to lie in his arms.

"That...was wonderful Cloud. Did I please you?"

"Very much." He stroked Sephiroth's hair and kissed him gently. "But I want to go to sleep now."

"As you wish." Sephiroth's eyes closed at once, and Cloud pulled the covers up over them both before settling down to sleep.

xoXox

Sephiroth couldn't quite believe his keeper had been willing to stay with him _again_ last night, but he was grateful for it, and he wasn't going to let Cloud's training suffer for it. Cloud had asked for _two_ blindfolds, not one, so...he'd probably wanted to see for himself what it felt like having sex without being able to use his eyes. He glanced over at the clock, deciding that there was enough time before Cloud had to go...he'd woken at his usual time, a lot earlier than most people were about, but they'd gone to sleep early as well - or at least Cloud had.

Sephiroth had spent some time thinking about what Cloud had done with him, and what he seemed to want from him, as well as enjoying the feel of his keeper's arms around him before he let himself sleep, and so he was fairly confident that Cloud would react well if he woke him with a blow job. He was less confident that it would please Cloud if he blindfolded him first, but...even if Cloud _was_ angry this would be a safe time to test just how he'd react when Sephiroth displeased him; Cloud was pretty weak at the moment, compared to how he'd end up and Cloud _had_ said he wanted initiative from Sephiroth.

Decision made he moved carefully to pick up the blindfold without disturbing Cloud, and fastened it over his eyes before sliding down under the covers to wrap his mouth around Cloud's morning erection. He shut his eyes to focus on the taste and shape of Cloud inside his mouth, moving slowly and keeping the suction gentle so that his keeper would wake up gradually, instead of with a shock.

"Wh-wha?" Even through the muffling covers he could tell that Cloud's voice was thickened with sleep, and he could just hear the small sounds of Cloud moving his hands. "Ah." He could feel Cloud's pleasure and amusement flickering against his mind, but he could still tell that the emotions came from Cloud, not from him. Cloud pushed the covers down to Sephiroth's shoulders, and he hummed appreciatively around Cloud's cock when his keeper rested his hands on the back of his head, caressing gently. "That's good. Just keep on doing that."

Sephiroth took that as a cue to slow down even more, keeping his attention only just teasing, doing his best to make it last as long as he could, and he pulled back when he felt the twitching that preceded climax, closing his eyes as Cloud came on his face.

"That was...wonderful. Can I take the blindfold off now?" Cloud was asking _permission_, from him? "Or did you have something else in mind?" That made more sense.

"If you wish. I hadn't thought of anything further, and I'm glad I pleased you." He smiled at Cloud as he pulled the blindfold off, hoping for some sign of approval. "You...did want to try what sex was like without sight to distract you from your pleasure?"

"Yes, I did. It was good, and I might ask to do something like this again, but only when you feel up to it." Cloud reached down, briefly stroking his hair with a smile. "Now get up here and kiss me love."

Sephiroth obeyed, licking lightly at Cloud's lower lip before his lover opened his mouth and took control of their kiss. He didn't even try to fight it when Cloud rolled him over to lie on top of him, letting his eyes fall closed as his keeper continued kissing him, hands stroking down his sides. He moaned into Cloud's mouth as his keeper slid a hand between their bodies and wrapped around his cock.

"How much time do we have?" Cloud pulled back just enough to ask the question, then turned his attention to Sephiroth's throat, kissing it and running his teeth lightly over the skin. Sephiroth turned his head to check the time with a gasp, hands coming up to clutch at Cloud's shoulders.

"Ah-about an hour."

"Good." With that Cloud returned his attention to Sephiroth's mouth, nibbling at his lower lip. Sephiroth closed his eyes again, letting Cloud pull his head to a more convenient position with the hand he wasn't using to stroke his cock. He focused on the sensation, half surprised that Cloud didn't want to use their link, and then gasped into the blond's mouth in surprise when he felt Cloud's cock pressed against his as his lover shifted to grip both of them. He climaxed first, and Cloud pulled back a bit to jerk off over him.

"Come on, we can shower together, and then you can decide if I should practice my magic by healing you."

"Sounds good to me beloved." Sephiroth felt heat rise in his cheeks as he realised what he'd said; it wasn't his place to suggest using any endearments, _or_ to use them without permission. Angeal had made that _very_ clear; the one time he'd called the older man 'Angel' he'd pulled away coldly.

"Thank you." Cloud cupped his cheek and forced Sephiroth to look at him. "It's good to know that you do love me, that you aren't just submitting to necessity." Then he led Sephiroth to the shower, and Sephiroth finally came out of the shock those words had sent him into, to the feel of his lover's hands on his body, cleaning him.

xoXox

Cloud hesitated over where to eat his breakfast - Damon and Killian were just sitting down with Warren, and there was still room for him, but Geran and Daniel were alone together at another table.

"Hey Cloud, over here." Killian's invitation decided him, and he moved over to join his classmates, sliding easily into the free seat.

"So, are there any virgins left in our group Warren?" He smiled at the brunet as he asked the question, remembering how he'd described his plans for the night before last.

"Not unless _you're_ a virgin, and if you've got a lover you can't be, can you?"

"No, I can't." Cloud hesitated, deciding what it was safe to say. "He's the contact I mentioned, and we played with blindfolds last night. So, you get a group discount or something for all nine of you going to the same whorehouse?"

"No, some of us had our own favourite haunts for that." Killian sounded almost angry at that, and Cloud wasn't sure why. "The Red Lantern's got a reputation for kink, not like the Turtledove, and I can't believe Peter was so ready to admit he was going there."

"What sort of kink?" Damon asked the question in Cloud's mind and he looked at the two older SOLDIERs, waiting for the answer.

"The sort you two don't need to know about." Cloud couldn't quite believe the repressive tone in Warren's voice, but he accepted the lack of answer while Damon kept on trying to get the information from the other two. When they'd finished eating they made their way to the room they met their instructors in.

"Right, you're all on record as being healthy and responding well to your enhancements, so from now on you'll only be spending two days a week here training. Tomorrow evening we'll be giving you all your first assignment which should cover the next four days, then you'll have one day off before you're expected to report back here. After that you'll have to see what you're assigned to for yourselves and in three months you'll all be assessed again and assigned to the standard groups for training." Did that mean they wouldn't be learning any more about swordplay after three months? Or just that they were supposed to find their own tutors if they wanted to learn new moves, as opposed to practising with what they already knew? It didn't matter; Cloud could probably get lessons from Zack and Angeal, and _Sephiroth_ would teach him if they refused.

"You'll probably start off with something simple, like guard duty, so don't get too ambitious." SOLDIER 3rd class Remus sounded repressive, and he did silence the murmured speculation before leading them off to the obstacle courses. Cloud was too focused on keeping up to pay much attention to the way his class mates were speculating on their first assignments as SOLDIERs - and despite Remus' warning they seemed to be hoping for the more exciting missions, even if all they could _realistically_ hope for was monster hunts or joining suppression missions. _Cloud_ would be perfectly happy with an assignment where he could stay here, close to Sephiroth, at least for now, although considering that his missions weren't going to last more than four days for now it wasn't much of a problem. And of course he wasn't considering the possibility that _Sephiroth_ would be sent somewhere else.

The speculations continued during lunch and now Cloud had no excuse not to join in.

"We're not going to be trusted to lead anything but monster hunting missions, and not even those if we did badly on that test. I'm expecting to be assigned to guard duty, or monster hunting. I've heard some SOLDIERs are assigned as 'reaction teams' and I might end up rotating into one of those, if I've impressed any of the team leaders. We're not going to be sent too far from Midgar for this first three months, not if we're expected to report for more training two days a week."

"Don't you want something a bit more exciting than that?"

"Monster hunting's probably the most exciting thing we'll get, that and the reaction teams, just the reaction teams won't be exciting _all_ the time, only when something happens. And guard duty and the reaction teams would both leave me plenty of opportunity for extra training."

"Not to mention giving you chances to see your lover." Killian _would_ mention that.

"That too. But I'm figuring on guard duty because I don't know if I could keep up with more experienced SOLDIERs, or monster hunting since I'd just be working with normal soldiers there. I'm _hoping_ for a reaction team if I did well enough, because that's the best career-wise and I heard they tend to drive to wherever they have to fight, so it's my fighting skills that would matter most there."


	10. Chapter 10

"Angeal?" Sephiroth was surprised to see his older lover waiting for him when he went to practice, but he smiled in genuine pleasure at the thought he might have a decent sparring partner for once. He understood why Angeal and Zack didn't really like sparring against him, but they were the closest to being his equals with a sword that he'd found so far. Eventually Cloud...no, he wouldn't think about that, not while he was with Angeal - the man seemed really irrational about Cloud sometimes.

"Well? Don't you _want_ to spar with me?" Angeal sounded slightly offended, and Sephiroth blushed as he realised he'd frozen just inside the room.

"Please." He smiled, and prepared for Angeal to attack him. Then he focused on the fight, concentrating as much on drawing the spar out, on keeping as close as he could to Angeal's level, as on trying to win. Eventually he couldn't keep on holding back without Angeal noticing and reacting badly to it so he finished the spar off in a few swift blows.

"Thank you for that." Sephiroth smiled in appreciation as he held his hand out to help Angeal up; this was one area where he liked it that Sephiroth was so freakishly strong. "It's good to have a skilled and willing opponent, instead of being used to punish incompetents." He didn't exactly mind it; he didn't have enough sparring partners to refuse anyone so he tried to teach as well, when he was assigned an opponent, but it wasn't as much fun as this.

"You're welcome. So, has your keeper demanded your company tonight as well?" Sephiroth frowned at the bitterness in Angeal's voice, but he couldn't think of anything to do about it. He belonged to Cloud, and nothing was ever going to change that.

"No, he hasn't said anything. Does that mean you want me?" He couldn't keep the hope from his voice and he consciously relaxed, making his body language as submissive as he could while still looking at Angeal.

"It's been three days. Yes I want you." Angeal took hold of him by the left shoulder, pushing him back against the wall and kissing him, briefly but thoroughly before pulling back, to Sephiroth's displeasure. "We don't have time for anything more now. And you said you wanted us to pretend we weren't fucking you in public." He explained with a laugh, and Sephiroth felt himself blush as he remembered just where they were. He shouldn't have forgotten himself like that, but...he'd hoped this behaviour meant that Angeal had stopped being quite so angry that he belong to Cloud, and it had been a relief. And now...now he was wondering if Angeal had intended this as another way to hurt him, another petty act of cruelty.

"I can't display my relationship with you and Zack when I have to hide my involvement with Cloud. I...it would be cruel to him if I did that. And I can't let people know about him until he hits SOLDIER 1st class." People wouldn't give Cloud the respect he deserved if they thought he'd slept his way to the top, and Sephiroth couldn't do that to his keeper. Angeal laughed at that, and kissed him again, running his hands over Sephiroth's body in rough possessiveness.

"Come to me tonight, no later than seven." There was no room for protest in Angeal's voice, and Sephiroth decided not to bother reminding the man that Cloud had first call on his time; he seriously doubted that his keeper would have time for him tonight anyway.

"As you wish. About our plans to deal with Gregori...you are agreed that we should do our best to get as many of the instructors he's corrupted as we can?"

"It would be a waste of time if we didn't. Does Strife have any more information for us?" Angeal was speaking quietly as they walked to the mess hall together but Sephiroth could still hear a hint of resentment in his voice. He didn't say anything about that, though; he was sure it would just make things worse if he defended his keeper.

"Yes, he was able to name one instructor who didn't follow Gregori's example, SOLDIER 2nd class Jethro. And he said he'll tell us if he thinks of anyone else who was equally decent."

"I don't like relying so much on one source. When Zack gets back we should get him to ask the cadets Gregori was in charge of about this Jethro."

"Because we're both intimidating? You have a point, but I might question _Jethro_ if I get a chance." Either the man had known what sort of attitude Gregori encouraged, and gone against the usual behaviour, or he'd just been oblivious to anything outside his specialisation.

xoXox

Sephiroth was grateful Cloud hadn't decided he wanted him again that night; in fact when his keeper had contacted him at lunch he'd made it clear he thought it was a good idea for Sephiroth to go to Angeal. Cloud had 'said' something about not wanting to be selfish with Sephiroth's time, but the last three nights being an opportunity too good to pass up, and Sephiroth understood the second part, even if he wasn't quite sure about the first part. It didn't matter though, and he shouldn't be thinking about Cloud when he was with Angeal so he pushed all thoughts of his keeper aside as he knocked on the door.

"Come in." That was unusual, but Sephiroth ventured inside obediently, glancing around for his lover. Angeal was lying stretched out on the floor, resting on some of his cushions, naked. "Stay there." Angeal's command stopped him a dozen steps into the room and he watched as Angeal stood up and paced towards him.

"Good." Angeal took hold of Sephiroth's wrist, pulling him up against his chest. "I don't want you to say a word tonight, understood?" Angeal's other hand lifted to rest against Sephiroth's cheek as he spoke, only just letting him nod slightly. Then Angeal's hand shifted to grip Sephiroth's jaw, holding him in position as Angeal kissed him, dominating him effortlessly. He didn't fight it when Angeal started stripping him slowly, but he didn't do anything to help either, since Angeal hadn't told him to do anything and Angeal didn't like it when he showed any initiative in bed.

He shut his eyes and made small sounds of pleasure when Angeal's strong hands lingered on his nipples, or between his legs for a moment, but it came as a surprise when Angeal just _pushed_ him to his knees, instead of ordering him down. Angeal ran his fingers through Sephiroth's hair briefly, before his hand came to cup his cheek almost tenderly, his fingers resting on Sephiroth's throat.

"Open your mouth." He obeyed, letting his lover fuck his throat as hard as he wanted, breathing around Angeal's cock as best he could, and swallowing when Angeal was finished. "Good, that was good." Sephiroth rested his head against Angeal's thigh, a small smile on his lips as the man petted his hair, enjoying the clear approval from his lover, even if he hadn't done anything but allow himself to be used.

Angeal tangled a hand in Sephiroth's hair and pulled him to his feet, kissing him again before pushing him down to lie on the cushions. Sephiroth let his legs fall open as he looked up at his lover, waiting for instructions.

"Stroke yourself, and play with your nipples." Angeal's voice was almost flat, and there wasn't really any expression on his face, leaving Sephiroth almost at a loss about what his lover expected beyond what he'd said. He wrapped his left hand loosely around his cock, stroking slowly as he licked the tips of his right fingers before he circled his left nipple lightly, teasing that way until it formed a little peak. Then he _pinched_ it, hard enough that he knew it was going white, eyes fixed on Angeal as he twisted, enjoying the excitement his lover was finally allowing to show on his face. He licked his fingers again and repeated his actions with his right nipple this time, but Angeal stopped him just as he began to pinch it, kneeling down beside him and grabbing his right wrist.

"Enough." Angeal ran an almost rough hand over his body, and began preparing Sephiroth, quickly, lifting Sephiroth's hand and kissing the inside of his right wrist, running his tongue down over the palm of his hand. Soon enough Angeal lay down on top of him, pushing inside slowly, tweaking his nipples and biting at his throat. He set a fairly slow pace at first, something Sephiroth enjoyed, despite the inevitable pain, but then he speeded up, setting a punishing pace until he climaxed inside Sephiroth. Angeal stayed inside Sephiroth as he slid a hand between their bodies to wrap around Sephiroth's softening cock, stroking him to hardness and then to climax, fucking his mouth with his tongue.

Angeal pulled out, and rolled onto his side, pulling Sephiroth with him, holding him in his arms, almost restrictively. He shut his eyes, relaxing as Angeal stroked his back, one leg still between his own.

"That was good Sephiroth. You can speak now if you want."

"Thank you." But he didn't say anything else, waiting for his lover to decide what they should speak about.

xoXox

Cloud disarmed Darres just as the free sparring ended, and the man stepped back with a smile.

"You're good. You might actually be up to working with the reaction teams in a couple of weeks." Cloud blinked in surprise at the compliment.

"I...thanks for the compliment sir." Did that mean that their teachers would be asked for their recommendation for their first few assignments? That would make sense; at least at first their teachers would probably know their capacity better than anyone else would.

"You're welcome. Do you still have more moves you need to perfect?" Darres looked at Cloud as he retrieved his sword, and Cloud had to smile at the hinted paranoia.

"A few, yes. And I'll probably be learning more stuff from Zack in my free time; he's been mostly willing to help me."

"Taking advantage of any connections you can make. A good strategy, especially since you're willing to put the work in too." Darres glanced over at Remus, looking almost reluctant. "We're supposed to make the announcement together, so..."

"Yes sir." Cloud didn't get why it seemed the man was almost asking for permission, but he smiled at him anyway as he made his way to the front of the room to stand beside Remus.

"This week we'll be handing your assignments out now, but in the future you need to collect them yourselves, at the same place you collect your messages. The assignments should be available at the beginning of the day before you need to start." Remus made the announcement, handing a three envelopes each to Darres and Lionel before they began circulating, handing the assignments out.

"Cloud, you'll need to stop by supplies to order the gear for your patrol tonight. And _don't_ forget the tents this time." Cloud had the feeling he wasn't going to be allowed to forget about the damned tents for a _long_ time, but he resisted the temptation to roll his eyes as he accepted his assignment from Lionel.

"No sir, I won't." It was just a sweep near Midgar, nothing special, and Cloud folded the paper into his pocket as he replied to his teacher.

"Good." Then Lionel moved on, handing assignments to the rest of the group, with personal comments for each SOLDIER he spoke to. Darres and Remus seemed to have comments for the people they gave their assignments to as well.

"Dismissed." Killian, Damon and Warren went with Cloud to see about supplies, so presumably they were doing patrols as well. After he'd ordered the gear for his patrol Cloud decided to wait for the others to finish and go to eat with them.

"You think anyone got on those reaction teams you were telling us about Cloud?" Cloud had to wonder if Killian realised how insensitive that question was, and he didn't resist the urge to glare at him, pleased to see that Warren and Damon were glaring at the man too.

"Why'd you expect me to know? You can ask what everyone got when we get to dinner." Cloud didn't need to say anything else until they joined the rest of the group at their table.

"So, there's four of us assigned to monster hunting." Warren had a grin on his face as he spoke, and Cloud for one was perfectly happy to let the other man speak for him now. "What did the rest of you get?"

"I'm on guard duty."

"So am I."

"Me too."

"And me." That was Peter, Francois, Matthias and Rupert...so what were Marco and Isaiah assigned to?

"I'm assigned to SOLDIER 2nd class Terrance for a suppression mission in Junon." Isaiah sounded pleased by that, something Cloud couldn't quite understand.

"SOLDIER 2nd class Franklin is leading a suppression mission in Kalm Town, and I'm assigned to him."

"Think it's going to be exciting, facing the rebels?" Peter sounded envious about that and Cloud had the feeling that suppression missions were seen as the plum assignment. He didn't quite agree, since he suspected that leading patrols for monsters was higher responsibility and so better for your career, but he wasn't going to say that.

"Yeah, _if_ we get to face them when we're assigned to the mission." Marco had a point, except...

"You mean the rest of the SOLDIERs assigned to those missions are going to be there for longer?" Cloud had to ask; he might even ask Sephiroth about that tonight.

"I don't know...but my orders read as if I'm supposed to come back to Midgar by myself when I'm setting off as part of a group."

"Mine too." Isaiah smiled at Cloud as he spoke. "So, I guess we won't be working with those 'reaction teams' you told us about."

"Guess our teachers don't think we're up to that yet." He shrugged, resisting the urge to boast about what Darres had told him. "I got the impression that they're the ones who decide what sort of assignments we can be given for the first few weeks."

"That's what one of my room mates said as well yesterday when I mentioned we'd be getting our first real assignments today." It was unusual for anyone but Cloud or Warren to have something to pass on from older SOLDIERs and everyone turned their attention to Francois at that.

xoXox

Sephiroth stripped off while he waited for Cloud; he was going to ask for something he wasn't sure he had any right to speak about, so he wanted to make sure his keeper was pleased with him. At least it was easier to please Cloud with a surprise than it was to please Angeal, since the blond was always asking him to show 'initiative' in their relationship. He sat on his bed and began brushing his hair out, hoping to be in the shower when Cloud arrived since he didn't want to be too obvious - it _wasn't_ deception, just a way of making Cloud feel good, of pleasing him by showing that Sephiroth didn't _have_ to wait for him to make the first move. Besides he needed to wash his hair anyway after Hojo had insisted he needed another check up today.

He heard Cloud open the door just as he was rinsing the shampoo from his hair and only hesitated for a moment before calling out to him.

"I'm in the shower Cloud. Come and join me if you want."

_'That sounds like a good idea.'_ Cloud sent a sort of mental caress along with his words, and Sephiroth relaxed a bit at that, pleased to know that his lover was in a good mood. There was no point in putting the conditioner in his hair now, so he just waited for Cloud to join him.

"Mmmm. You look good like that." There was an appreciative grin on Cloud's face as he opened the bathroom door, naked, much to Sephiroth's pleasure.

"So do you. I...do you want me to wash your hair while you're in here with me?" Cloud ran his fingers through his hair as he walked forward and got into the shower with Sephiroth.

"That's a good idea; I'm not going to get the chance to for the next four days since I got assigned to monster hunting." Cloud reached up, wrapping his arms around Sephiroth's neck and pulling him down for a kiss. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Sephiroth wasn't quite sure what Cloud was asking him, and he let his confusion show.

"Do you need me to wash your hair, or were you just finishing?"

"Ah." That made more sense; for a moment there he'd thought Cloud was asking what sort of assignment Sephiroth had in the next few days. "I just need to use the conditioner."

"You can wash me first and then I want your mouth once I'm clean." Cloud released him and stepped into the shower, turning to Sephiroth with a smile. He swallowed and nodded, picking up his body wash, unscented, because he _hated_ the way most scented products smelled, far too artificial. Then he began washing Cloud, running his hands over his lover's body, enjoying the hidden strength and wondering if Cloud was going to end up as heavily muscled as Zack and Angeal were, or if he'd grow to be lean and look deceptively slender the way he did now.

Sephiroth found it a bit disturbing that his keeper just _let_ him wash him without doing anything to direct his movements, so he didn't hesitate to go to his knees when Cloud lifted his hands to push at his shoulders. Cloud kissed him briefly on his way down, then pulled back a bit with a gentle smile on his face.

"Am I clean enough for you now?" Cloud petted Sephiroth's hair as he spoke and Sephiroth leaned forward to nuzzle at his groin briefly.

"Yes, please. I want to taste you."

"Go ahead, take it slowly." Cloud stroked Sephiroth's cheek and he shut his eyes to enjoy the sensation, leaning into Cloud's hand for a moment before he wrapped his lips around Cloud's cock. He made a point of moving slowly, obeying Cloud's command, and he ignored the sound of Cloud picking something up, considering it none of his business, right up until he felt Cloud massaging something - presumably the conditioner - into his hair.

He purred at that, enjoying the way Cloud's hands tightened in his hair at the vibrations, then pulled back a bit, moving slowly and scraping Cloud with his teeth ever so slightly.

"Good." Sephiroth felt a mental caress through their bond. "That was inventive, but I don't want you to do that again today." He hummed in agreement around Cloud's cock and kept up his slow teasing movements, impressed by Cloud's self-control in not thrusting.

"I want you to make me come now, then you can get up and rinse your hair." Sephiroth speeded his movements at once, enjoying the fact that Cloud was finally willing to thrust into his mouth, relaxing his throat at that and swallowing his lover's seed. He opened his eyes as he stood up, smiling at the faintly sleepy look on his keeper's face and reaching for the shampoo.

"Might I wash your hair now?"

"Go ahead." Cloud let Sephiroth wash his hair and use the conditioner on it, relaxed enough not to fight the way Sephiroth moved him.

"Just stay where you are for now." Cloud got out of the shower and dried himself off first, then held out a towel for Sephiroth to step into.

xoXox

Cloud led Sephiroth through into his bedroom and pushed him to sit on the bed, kissing the bared nape of his neck.

"Stay there for a moment." He pulled away and roughly towelled his hair dry before getting the hairdryer and plugging it in. Then he moved to sit behind his lover and freed his hair from the towel it was wrapped in.

"That was a nice surprise, finding you in the shower." He combed through Sephiroth's hair as he spoke and started work on drying it out, noting that his lover seemed oddly disturbed by his words. "Is something wrong Sephiroth?"

"I...it wasn't manipulation to try and please you, to put you in a good mood for the news I have, was it?"

"What? No, of course not." Cloud didn't get why Sephiroth would be worried about manipulating him, especially not in such a minor way, but he wasn't going to hesitate to reassure him. "It's normal to want to please people you care about. I want to make you happy and I'm glad you want to do the same." He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Sephiroth and nuzzling just behind his ear. "So, what news had you so worried?" He could feel Sephiroth tense just a little in his arms, and used their link to forcibly relax him.

"I...Zack is due back from _his_ mission the day before your patrol finishes."

"And you'll be spending the night he gets back with him and with Angeal. So, do you want to take the chance to have Angeal and Zack show me just how to take care of you if I push too far the evening after I get back?" Because Cloud wasn't sure he'd be up to learning that the night he finished his patrol and this was the first chance they'd had for making sure he knew what his mate needed if Cloud managed to screw up enough to make him go limp and unresponsive again.

"If you want that I can ask Angeal about it and tell you what he says when you get back." Sephiroth's voice was so totally void of emotion that Cloud had to reach through their link, finding such a strong mix of fear, acceptance, pleasure, anticipation, nervousness and hope that he couldn't work out what was the predominant emotion. But he could tell that Sephiroth had something else he wanted to say, and he 'pushed' gently to encourage him to open up. "That isn't what I meant though."

Cloud reached through Sephiroth's hair to stroke his back until he stopped trembling, projecting calm and love through their link, because he couldn't figure out what had made him so worried.

"Why don't you tell me what you meant then? I won't be angry with you, I promise." He went back to combing out and drying Sephiroth's hair until his lover felt secure enough to explain what he wanted to say. It was almost dry when Sephiroth finally spoke to him, instead of half starting to say something and switching the words to simple sounds, unhappy at first, but almost purring before he managed to complete a full word.

"You like Zack a lot, and he likes you. I know that he thinks you're attractive..."

"And I think he's attractive too. Are you suggesting that you'd like a threesome with me and Zack instead of with Angeal and Zack?" Sephiroth's hair was dry enough now, and Cloud put the hairdryer down, coming to straddle his legs instead.

"I know it isn't my place to suggest something like that, but...Zack doesn't resent it that I'm yours, and he _has_ expressed an interest in you-"

"Hush." Cloud followed that up with a quick kiss, resting one hand on Sephiroth's cheek. "It's an interesting idea, and I think I like it. I wouldn't have suggested it, but if you think he'd be willing you can ask him when he gets back." He pushed at Sephiroth's chest then, and his lover obediently lay back, a smile on his face and in his eyes as he looked up at Cloud.

"Thank you. I-is there a day you'd prefer for this threesome?" From the way Sephiroth said that Cloud got the feeling that his lover did have a specific day in mind and he hesitated before answering.

"_Not_ the night after I watch you with him and Angeal. I'm not sure if I'll want you then, but if I do I _won't_ want to share you." Because if he wanted Sephiroth _then_ it would be because seeing his mate with two other men had made him jealous. Cloud could see the speculation in Sephiroth's eyes at his words, speculation and pleasure.

"What about the day you come back from your patrol then?" Cloud laughed in surprise, then immediately had to soothe the hurt in Sephiroth's eyes with a hungry kiss as he lay down on his lover's chest.

_'I'm _not_ laughing at you. It's just...you obviously want to make sure I don't have time to change my mind.'_

_'And that is funny, I...understand.'_ Sephiroth began kissing back then, the hurt gone from his eyes, almost purring into Cloud's mouth as he lifted his hands to rest on Cloud's hips. _'But I don't want _Zack_ to have the chance to reconsider or back out either.'_

Cloud pulled back from Sephiroth, smiling at him and letting his approval echo through their link as he stroked the side of Sephiroth's face.

"Good point." Cloud didn't think that Zack would agree and then change his mind, but if it was something that bothered Sephiroth then he wasn't going to object to whatever would make him feel better. Besides, it would be something to look forward to a bit, having Zack as well as Sephiroth. "But I don't want to talk any more about Zack now. Just lie back and let me play with you."

"Yes Cloud." Sephiroth's smile was beautiful and he shut his eyes as he lowered his hands and tilted his head back with a breathtaking show of trust. Cloud bent to kiss his exposed throat and then he started to kiss his way down his mate's body, stroking his flanks as he moved towards the navel, biting lightly at each nipple as he moved past them. He licked an inward spiral around Sephiroth's navel, ending by slipping his tongue into the navel for a second before moving down again, this time aiming for Sephiroth's groin and nudging his lover's legs open as he moved.

He licked up along the underside of Sephiroth's cock, and settled down between his legs to suck him nice and slowly, planning on giving him something to remember. He deliberately kept his movements slow, teasing, and scraped his teeth against Sephiroth's cock the first time he felt his lover starting to climax, then kept on going until Sephiroth began to beg. This time when he could sense that Sephiroth was nearing climax he didn't try to stop him, instead pulling back just as his lover came, shutting his eyes as Sephiroth's seed spattered his face. Once Sephiroth had caught his breath Cloud moved back to lie on his back beside his lover, and then pulling him on top of him.

"Cloud?" Sephiroth sounded a bit unhappy, and Cloud didn't like that, so he stroked his back soothingly.

"I want you to lick my face clean. That will be easier with you like this. Don't worry about anything else." He could feel that Sephiroth was happy with those instructions, and he shut his eyes, letting his lover clean him up, starting with small, almost tentative, strokes of his tongue, growing more confident when Cloud made approving noises. Once he was finished Cloud pulled Sephiroth up against him, and began thrusting against his belly, enjoying the friction without having to bother with preparing him. Afterwards he left Sephiroth reluctantly, knowing it would raise questions they couldn't afford to have raised if he stayed that night.

xoXox

"Zack?" Sephiroth let the question in his voice tell Zack that this wasn't going to be related to the verbal report he'd just given.

"What is it Seph?" Zack rested one hand on his arm, almost reassuringly.

"I...you've said you were interested in Cloud before...and he likes the idea, so...would you care to join me with him tomorrow night?"

"You're serious." Sephiroth stiffened a bit at the near disbelief in Zack's voice, and he began speaking again, almost falling over his words in an effort to calm him. "I'm sorry, I know you are, just...it's a bit of a shock you know? Cloud's not going to be possessive or jealous about inviting me into bed with the two of you? I don't want to cause any trouble for you."

"He won't mind. He likes you, and he said he thinks you're attractive. He..." Sephiroth knew he was blushing as he spoke. "He's usually pretty gentle with me, no question about who's in charge, but...he hasn't tied me up yet and...sex isn't play with him the way it is with you, but it isn't some sort of fight the way Angeal sometimes makes it." Looking back Sephiroth knew that even when Cloud had allowed him those little bits of control, like pulling Sephiroth on top of him and making him panic a little bit, Cloud had still been in charge and he'd known it down to his bone.

"And you want this too?" Zack sounded almost as if he thought Cloud might be forcing Sephiroth into the offer.

"I...it was my idea, but Cloud agreed and said I should ask you."

"All right then. I guess you'd rather not mention this to Angeal?"

"He knows I'll be with Cloud tomorrow, but I don't want to give him extra reason to be jealous." Sephiroth smiled at Zack and stood, ready to leave his office.

"I'll be discreet then." Zack let Sephiroth lead him to Angeal's quarters without objecting, and submitted to Angeal's kiss easily. Then Sephiroth reached for Zack, glancing at Angeal for permission to kiss their lover. He let his hands rest at the small of Zack's back, and then Angeal came up behind him, wrapping his arms around the two of them and kissing Sephiroth on the temple.

"It's good to have you back, in case Sephiroth forgot to tell you that." Zack pulled back from their kiss just enough for Sephiroth to see his grin and brace himself.

"Well, he didn't say anything from when we left his office until we got here."

"Ah, then I think he deserves a spanking for that. Don't you Zack?" Sephiroth relaxed in Angeal's arms, recognising the teasing tone in his voice and ready to let him do what he wanted.

"Yes, I guess he does." Zack pulled away from him, and Sephiroth didn't fight it as Angeal pulled his hands behind his back, pinning his wrists together with one hand.

"Why don't you undress Sephiroth while I hold him for you, and then you can do the honours?"

"You mean that?" Sephiroth could hear the disbelief in Zack's voice, even as his younger lover began unfastening his belts, knowing better than to disobey Angeal. And _Sephiroth_ quickly shut his eyes, hiding his eagerness to see just how _Zack_ would administer a spanking.

"It might be an interesting change."

"On the subject of changes...do you both remember how Cloud wanted you to teach him how to take care of me after pushing me to my limits?"

"Yeah. I thought it was sweet that he was worried about you." Zack's hands were at Sephiroth's pants now, pulling them down around his legs.

"Or about his incompetence doing damage to his property." Sephiroth wanted to flinch at the darkness in Angeal's voice, the hint of scorn, for both him and for Cloud, and of jealousy, among other things. "Pity he never followed up on that. I'd have loved to teach him a thing about how to treat you." Sephiroth shivered at that, eyes flying open as Angeal wrapped his free arm around his body, pinning Sephiroth's arms in place, but comforting him too. He hadn't realised until now that Angeal had considered Sephiroth to be _his_ property, right up until Hojo and the ShinRa executive board had given him to Cloud.

"It was never exactly possible; Cloud's schedule has been anything but predictable until now. You two haven't been available when he was since he joined up with the rest of the new SOLDIERs 3rd class, and you wouldn't have wanted to take me to Hojo's labs for that...I couldn't have relaxed there."

"I couldn't either." Zack's words were a comfort, even if he wasn't sure Angeal would agree "But...I figured with so much time passing he'd decided he didn't need our advice. Was I wrong?"

"Cloud said that you could demonstrate how to take care of me after pushing me to unresponsiveness the day after tomorrow, if you were willing?"

"Oh yes." There was a dark satisfaction in Angeal's voice as he released Sephiroth and roughly stripped his coat from him. "But don't think this gets you out of that spanking you earned."

xoXox


End file.
